


Change of Destinies, Again.

by btvscharmedgirl



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Charmed (TV 1998)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-17 04:55:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 56,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15453798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/btvscharmedgirl/pseuds/btvscharmedgirl
Summary: After the fall of Sunnydale, the Scoobies have to go somewhere, so why not follow Willow's desire to reunite with her family in San Francisco?





	1. The Scoobies Regrouping

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there, 
> 
> For those of you who have already read this story on fanfiction.net, this is completely re-vamped. I have spent a lot of time editing, adding, and generally re-working this story. This is my baby. It is my very first fanfiction story. I am extremely proud of how far my writing has come since I first posted CODA way back in 2012. For now, I am leaving the original up on Fanfiction.net. So, if you desire, you can compare the differences. I would really love to read what you think.
> 
> Before you read on I would like to point a few things out.  
> 1\. I do not own Buffy, Angel, or Charmed. I am merely playing with these amazing characters.  
> 2\. This story takes place after both show’s series finales. It DOES NOT follow the comics.  
> 3\. This is a fanfiction story, and as such I have taken a few creative liberties. Please don’t obsess over the little details. I know it’s hard, but it will just ruin the story for you.  
> 4\. The main being playing around with the timeline. The Buffy timeline has been moved to coincide with the Charmed timeline. Both series finales happened around the same time in 2006.  
> 5\. Prue is a year older than in the series and Willow is a year younger. Please don’t ask me how. Doing the math hurts my head.  
> 6\. You will notice in the first chapter that I changed a lot for Angel. Mostly being that anything that happened after Connor was born didn’t happen, except Angel losing his soul. That did happen.  
> 7\. After the first chapter I do not know exactly how much the Angel group will play in the series.  
> 8\. My editing skills suck. Like really, really, horrible. So, I apologize for any mistakes you find. I swear I’ve read through every chapter at least five times. 
> 
> Other than that, I really hope you like the story. I’ve worked hard on what I have, and I am eager to read your reactions.

The sun was beginning to set, causing all the newly unlocked slayers to become restless. They could sense the transition to night coming and were eager to go test their new abilities on some average vampires. It had only been a day since the fall of Sunnydale, but they could already tell that their lives were different. That they were different.

The Scoobies and newly created slayers sat with Angel and Cordelia in the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel, waiting for Giles to return from the hospital with Robin. Out of Thirty-some potentials only thirteen had survived the fight. Although, there had been a few warriors hurt, they had been lucky enough to have only one person hurt badly enough for a hospital stay. It had been a close call at first, but Robin pulled through the drive to Los Angeles as well as a mortal could.

Out of everyone in their group, the only two not present yet, besides Robin and Giles, were Andrew and Faith. Andrew had gone out earlier in the day without any word of where he was going, and Faith was just outside in the garden smoking a cigarette. She had not been allowed to go with Giles because of the warrant still out for her arrest, which was making her feel a little stir crazy. Evident by the endless amount of cigarette butts she had managed to pile up since Giles had left two hours previous.

Restlessness seemed to be the theme among the slayers. Not that Buffy blamed any of them. She remembered how strong the urge to slay was after that first fight. The day after her watcher, Merrick, had taken her out for the first time, she had been so restless, that he mother, Joyce, had thought something was wrong with her. She had tried to fight off the urge, but after a few days, she had been forced to go out slaying. Which is exactly what she was thinking about doing with the girls.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the lobby doors opened to reveal a tired looking Giles, and a clearly relieved Faith who supported Robin. The two of them walked over to one of the couches and shooed away a couple of girls so they could sit.

Giles walked to the middle of the group. He looked around to see if everyone was present. "Where is Andrew?"

Buffy shrugged her shoulder, "We don't know Giles. He didn't tell us where he was going when he left this morning."

"Blasted boy. We haven't even been here a full day, and he is already causing problems," Giles sighed. "Never the less, we have business to discuss. Somebody will have to inform him about this when he decides to return." He grumbled, and then he paused, as he looked around at the new slayers, then to Faith, before laying his eyes on Buffy. He gave her a smile, before turning his attention back to the group.

"As you already know, in the past there has only been one slayer at a time. She secluded herself from her family, and she did not have any friends. She slayed every night, and she died young. Until Buffy came along this was how it was. The old council thought of the slayer as a tool, instead of a young girl. That is NOT how it is going to be from now on. Last night Buffy informed me what she wanted to do with you girls, and I fully agree with her." Giles sent Buffy a look, and then sat down.

"My turn," Buffy said suddenly, capturing the attention of the entire group. "Alright, so you might have already noticed how restless you are feeling. It can be a little overwhelming at first, but it will become more manageable the longer you are a slayer. Unfortunately, it will never go away. That being said; you have a choice to make. You can stay with us, help us rebuild the council, slay, and help find and train the new slayers, or you can return to your families. You slay only when the urge hits. All I ask of you is to keep in touch with us."

"Take your time thinking it over, and you are free to change your mind at any time," Giles added, and then looked to Angel. "Is Mr. Gunn here yet?"

"No, he called and said he'd be a little late. He should be here any second though." Angel replied, and sure enough a second later Gunn walked in looking ready for a fight.

"Sorry, I'm late. There was a problem in my department that couldn't wait." Gunn said.

"That is quite alright, Mr. Gunn," he said and then turned to the young slayers. "Girls. This is Charles Gunn. He is going to be taking you out to slay." He chuckled as all the slayers except Faith, Buffy, and Kennedy got up and ran to the weapons cabinets Angel had showed them earlier in the day.

Willow looked at Kennedy. She could feel the tension coming from her girlfriend and knew that the younger woman needed to go hunting. The slayer within her was practically clawing to get out, but Willow knew Kennedy. She knew that the young woman wanted to be present for the meeting. "Are you going to go with them?" Willow asked her. Kennedy just shrugged her shoulders. Willow leaned in and whispered. "I think you should go, sweetie. I can feel how badly you need to hunt. We'll talk later okay."

"Yeah, okay," She mumbled. She gave Willow a kiss on her lips and then went to join the girls and Gunn.

Once all the baby slayers had chosen their preferred weapon, Gunn lead them out in the courtyard to brief them. Buffy waited until she was sure they were a safe distance away before she turned to Willow and asked, "What's up with Kennedy? She's not her usually brash, annoying self."

"I'm not really sure. She was talking to someone on the phone earlier, and has been distance ever since," Willow replied. She wasn't ready to admit it, but her girlfriends attitude was worrying her. The last time Kennedy had been that distant towards her was the time she had stolen her energy to bring Buffy back from the shadow land, and they had barely made it through that. She hoped that it was just because of Kennedy's newly awaken slayer status, and not because of something else. She was worried that whatever was going through her girlfriend's head would cause them to part ways. She really liked Kennedy. Enough so that she felt the word love was a strong enough word to describe her feelings.

"Is everything going to be okay with the two of you?" Xander asked.

"I don't know," she said with a sigh. "I hope so. She made a phone call earlier and I think it has her spooked or something."

Dawn snorted, "Well this is Kennedy were talking about. She's madly in love with you. I mean she faked the flu, just so she could get some one-on-one with you. I'm sure you guys will be just fine."

"Dawn's right," Buffy said. "Its Kennedy. Besides, her weirdness could be coming from her need to slay. I was uber weird the first few weeks after I was called."

Dawn snorted again. "The first few weeks? Try the first few years and then some. Hell, you're still uber weird at times."

"I am not," Buffy said offended. "I'll have you know that I've grown into my slayer weirdness."

It was Faith's turn to snort. "Is that what you're callin' it now? Personally, I just thought you were a stick in the mud." Faith flashed her dimples at Buffy, who's jaw dropped at the subtle implication.

The rest of the group smiled at the pair. They were all incredibly grateful that they were getting along, instead of at each others throat.

Xander decided to use the light mood to sway the conversation back onto point. "So, G-man, where are we going to go?"

Ignoring Xander's nickname, he answered, "I'm not sure. As Buffy already stated, we need to reestablish the council. That's the first thing should focus on. We are also thinking that we should start a school for the slayers, and to train new watchers."

"What is with the secret powwows?" Faith asked moodily. She was trying not to jump to conclusions, but she hated when Buffy excluded her from slayer business.

"There was no powwow Faith. Everybody had gone to bed, and Giles and I started talking. That was all," Buffy informed her.

"That sounds good," Dawn hastily said, wanting to avoid any conflict that may arise between the two of them. "Are we going to stay here, or are we going to go somewhere else?" She looked at Giles questioningly, who just looked around at everybody else with a questioning look as well.

"I vote for San Francisco," Willow said in a small voice. Eight heads turned toward her, with confused looks on their faces. None of them were expecting Willow to want to stay in California after everything that had happened in the last year.

"Willow, why do you want to go to San Francisco?" Buffy asked a little confused. Willow was wearing a guilty look on her face, which made her confusion more profound. "I figured out of all of us would, you would want to get the hell out of California the most."

"Because," she began starting to fidget, and looking at her hands that are lying on her lap. "That's where my birth mother lives." Buffy and Xander's mouths dropped open in shock. That was such a big secret to keep hidden from them, and neither were sure how to react.

"Well that explains a lot about your parents," Cordelia said. Willow's head snapped up and look at her, not quite believing the sad tone in her voice. She might not have reacted to the tone if they had been friends, but the two of them had never reached that status. Friendly, sure, but not true friends. The Cordelia the she knew would have said some snobby comment. This was new territory for not only her, but the rest of the gang as well.

"Willow," Buffy said, snapping her out of the shock she was in. "Will, you've never mentioned that you were adopted. How long have you known?"

"Since right before Kendra came to Sunnydale," she replied sheepishly. "I was going through my dad's desk looking for my birth certificate, when I came across the adoption papers."

"How do you know that she is in San Francisco?" Dawn asked. "Did you already meet her?"

"No. I haven't met her yet. I hacked into the agency not long after and found my mom's name. It's Prudence. Then I looked her up and found where she lives. She lives at 1329 Prescott Street with her younger sisters Piper and Phoebe." She was going to go on, but Giles made a gasping noise, which he tried to cover up with a cough. "Giles, do you know my family?" she asked him.

"No, my dear, I do not," he said in all sincerely. While he did know of those woman from a few friends of his, he did not know them personally. Although he should have made a similar connection years earlier. Her birth line made Willow's impressive power make more sense, while succeeding to confuse him as well. He knew that the Halliwell witches' magic comes from within, not the earth magic Willow performed.

"But you do know something, don't you, Giles," said Buffy.

"I am sorry, but she must find out about her family for herself," he replied. That was information that Willow had to find out for herself.

"Giles," Willow whined. "Please just tell me."

"I am truly sorry my dear, but no. This is something you have to find out on your own," he firmly said.

"Fine," Willow pouted.

"Willow, why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell ME? All those times we joked about being adopted and you were," Xander said hurt. He felt betrayed. Like everything they had said over the last few years was all a lie.

"I didn't want you to be jealous, Xan, and I didn't want anyone to feel bad for me," She told them looking at Xander than Buffy.

"Will. You shouldn't have kept it a secret just for us. We're your friends. We could have helped you," Buffy said angrily.

"Yeah, like you haven't kept secrets from us, Buffy," Willow shot back, defensively.

"Stop it. This is not the time to be fighting," Giles said, raising his voice uncharacteristically.

"No, she's right, Giles. They've all been keeping secrets for years, and it's been pushing them away from each other," Dawn interrupted. She had been noticing the lies for years. She may not know what all the secrets are, but she saw what keeping them were doing to her family. How they were affecting them. She was no innocent party in it either. She had been keeping her fair share of secrets as well.

"Finally, they figure it out," Cordelia said, causing half the group to shoot her a withering stare. "What it's true. You guys are so worried about protecting each other from what you think will hurt them, that you fail to see that it's the lies that are really hurting them."

"That made…" Xander started. "Too much sense. Cordy, when did you become this smart."

"Please, I've always been this smart," Cordelia sassed.

"As much I hate to say this," Buffy said, visibly flinching as she said the words. "But I think that Cordelia may be right."

"I'm sitting right here, you know," Cordy said, and then shrugged her shoulders. "I'm glad that you finally recognize my genius."

Buffy ignored Cordelia's comment. "There have been so many secrets that have come back to bite us in the ass, and quite frankly, I'm tired of it. I don't want anything to come between us anymore."

"I agree," Xander said.

Willow looked at her two best friends. "Sharing our secrets is the easy part. It's the forgiving part that I think will be the hard part."

"Pfft! Please Will," Xander said. "The forgiving part is the easiest part.

Willow wanted to believe Xander, but there was a part her that was hesitant. You can easily give your forgiveness, but it's not as easy to forget the infraction. She had done a lot of things that she regretted over the past year and half, and even though she had their forgiveness, she never felt like they had forgiven her, and she knew that they hadn't forgotten what she had done. She would notice subtle looks every now and again from them, like she was seconds away from letting the magic take over again. She knew that they truly did forgive her now, but it took months for her to gain back their trust.

It felt good to know that she was forgiven for the things she had done. That is one reason why she had been hesitant about revealing her true parentage. She had kept it a secret for so long, and to reveal it now, so soon after she had gotten their forgiveness could destroy that. She was glad to have something else off her chest, though. The secrets were weighing heavily on her mind.

"Okay. I think that we all need a fresh start," Willow said. She may have relented, but she still wasn't sure about the whole forgiving part being the easiest. She decided that there was only one way to prove whether her fears were real or not. Get Xander to confess something and see how easily the forgiveness comes for him. "Xan, any you want to share?"

"Um, okay," Xander said, hesitantly. Clearly, he was not expecting to be in the spotlight. "If it'll help our friendship."

"I think that honesty needs to be our policy from now on," Buffy quipped.

"Alright, I do have a few things that I've been keeping a secret. None of which you're going to like Buffy. Just keep in mind that we are in a forgiving mood. Okay?"

"Just spit it out Xan," Buffy said sounding annoyed. "It can't be that bad."

"I think you're going to change your mind once you hear what I have to say," Xander said. He was silently cursing his stupidity once again. Why had he so readily agreed to share his secrets and swear that forgiveness was the easiest part. Oh yeah, he was trying to give his friend some piece of mind. He sucked in a long shallow breath, bracing himself for Buffy's reaction. "I remember everything that happened when I was possessed by the hyenas."

And sure enough, Buffy jumped up from the couch, and yelled, "WHAT!" She then paused for a second to think over the relevance of that revealed secret. "So, you remember trying to… ya know…?" Xander nodded his head yes looking guilty.

"What? What did he try to do?" Dawn asked not getting what everybody else already knew.

"Nothing Dawnie," Buffy quickly said dismissively, hoping she'd let it go.

"No, you said no more secrets. So, spill," Dawn countered.

All Buffy could think was, 'Damn it.'

"She means that Xander tried to have sex with her when he was possessed by the hyenas," Cordelia said, (having heard the story from Xander while they were dating) saving Buffy and Xander from having to tell her. Dawn sat there with her mouth wide open, while Buffy sat back down and put her head in her hands.

After a moment Buffy sat back up and looked at Dawn. "Look it's not that big of a deal, Dawnie," Buffy sighed. "He didn't realize what he was doing at the time, and I stopped it before he got to far. No harm, no foul. I just wish he hadn't lied about not remembering it."

"That's a big secret to keep for so long, and I certainly do think that it's a big deal," Dawn said.

"It's not his biggest secret though," Willow muttered, a little louder then she meant to.

Buffy and Xander whipped their heads around to her.

"Willow," Xander hissed.

"What? You know it's true. You lied and kept that lie a secret for five years, and she doesn't even know about it. Neither of them does."

"Who else would need to hear this secret, whatever the hell it is?" Buffy asked confused.

"Angel," Willow said.

"Willow, what the hell?" Xander asked.

"What Xander? "It's the truth. Are you not going to tell them? There have been a lot of lies over the years, but yours is the biggest. It's caused a lasting ripple effect. One that was caused by a jealous and selfish moment." Willow was angry with Xander over it, but she was more hurt by the knowledge that he not only lied about it but repeated the mistake.

"What good will it do?" Xander asked. He was fearful of how Buffy was going to react to his secret. Willow was right that he had screwed up that day, but he still stood by what he did. Well at least his intentions behind the act. He was just trying to protect Willow and Buffy. They couldn't fault him for that, could they?

"They deserve to know," Willow said. "No more secrets!"

"But…"

Buffy finally had enough of their tit-for-tat, and blurted out, "Would one of you just tell us already."

Willow and Xander shared a brief look before Xander sighed, "The day you killed Angel. I told you that Willow said to kick his ass, but that was a lie. She never said that."

Buffy looked at Xander for a second before saying, "Willow mentioned something about that last year. What did she say then?"

Xander swallowed. "I was supposed to tell you that she was attempting to do the re-souling spell again. She wanted you to stall. She wanted to try and save Angel."

Buffy sat silently, with an unreadable look on her face. Several different emotions were pulling her in different directions.

"It wouldn't have made a difference," Angel spoke up. "She was fighting off one of my cronies when I grabbed the sword. Once the portal was open, she had no choice but to kill me. It was the only way to close the portal again."

"That's only part of the equation Angel. I said it caused a ripple effect. Because he told her that lie, when you did return, she didn't feel like she could trust us with it. She didn't think that we would help her with you because we were routing for her to kill you."

"She's right," Buffy said suddenly. "It did cause a ripple effect. One that traveled straight to the First Evil."

"Huh?"

"I stalled, briefly when you told me what Willow had said. It wasn't long, but it was enough to give Angelous the advantage. I couldn't believe Willow would say something like that. Our sweet Willow. If I hadn't sent Angel to hell, then the PTB wouldn't have needed to pull him out, creating the first crack for the First to slip back into this dimension."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Ya know what though. It doesn't matter anymore. The First would have found his way back in eventually. My death and resurrection were what gave him the permeant foothold he needed. So, it's not like it was solely on you. We all played a part in the ripples. Willow is right though. We did need to know the truth. Knowledge is power right? Now we can be sure not to repeat the same mistakes over. So, all is forgiven."

"Really?" Xander asked surprised.

Buffy nodded her head. "Yeah. Things worked out in the end. There's no reason to get angry over a stupid lie from five years ago. We live and learn and make up for the even bigger mistakes we made."

"Thanks Buffy," Xander said.

"No need Xan." Buffy put her hand up to stop him from continuing. "That's what all this is about right? Getting everything out in the open so that we can start our new lives with no secrets, and nothing from our pasts to drag us back. A clean start."

"Yeah. A clean start sounds good," Xander stated, and then pulled Buffy into a hug. Willow, who felt left out, stood up to join her friends.

"You guys are so lame sometimes," Dawn said quietly.

"Hey," Buffy, Xander, and Willow said in unison.

"What? You are sometimes. You can't deny what you know to be true," Dawn said shrugging her shoulders. "You spill a few secrets, and then hug it out like there was never any secrets at all."

"Ok Dawnie," Xander said. "If you think there is more involved, spill. What have you been hiding from us?" Dawn suddenly wished she had kept her mouth shut.

"Hey, no-no. Xander said that he had several secrets, and he's only shared two. Two secrets do not make several. It makes two," Dawn whined, and then matter-of-factly said, "We should let him finish having his turn." She completed the sentence with a sharp head nod.

Buffy gave Dawn a very accurate version of Willow's resolve face.

"Fine," She huffed. "I'm gay. I used to steel Willow and Tara's lesbian books and toys when they weren't around. I'm not a virgin, and I'm a slayer," she said so fast that it was a minute before anybody understood what she said.

"What?" came three voices at once, followed by three questions in a row.

"You are a slayer?" asked Giles.

"You're not a virgin?" asked Buffy.

"You stole mine and Tara's toys?" asked Willow quietly, almost as if she was fearful of somebody would over hear something that they so clearly already heard.

"Toys. Kinky Red," said Faith with a sly grin on her face, making the redhead blush as bright as her hair.

"Back to the not a virgin part please," insisted Buffy.

"I had sex with Kit," Dawn said. Willow cut in before Buffy could yell at her.

"Dawn when you say toys, which ones do you mean?"

"All of them," she said quietly as she started to blush.

"And you used them?" Willow asked barely above a whisper.

"Giles," Faith yelled suddenly. "Stop cleaning your glasses, ya prude. You're gonna' break em." Giles blushed, and then placed his glasses back on his face. Then looked at Dawn, but before he could say anything though Xander started talking.

"Exactly what kind of toys Willow?" he asked and immediately received a smack to the back of his head by Cordelia. "God you're such a guy," she commented.

"Hey, I was just curious. No need to hit the half blind man," he said. Cordelia rolled her eyes

"Guys, I was just joking about the toys," Dawn said loudly. She then meekly added, "I was just trying to lighten the mood. God, I saw Tara as a mother. Eww." While everybody looked relieved, Willow managed to wear a guilty look with her relief.

"I did steal your books though," Dawn stated. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I was curious."

"That's okay sweetie," Willow said patting Dawn's knee. "I will never fault you for being curious, or for reading. Knowledge is the greatest power there is."

"Does that mean you were joking about the Kit thingy too?" Buffy asked hopefully. She was so not ready for her baby sister to be sexually active, even if it was with a girl who couldn't get Dawn pregnant.

"No, that was true," Dawn said brightly.

"When, in the middle of an apocalypse, did you find time to lose you virginity?" Buffy whispered yelled.

"A few weeks after school started. She found one of the lesbian books I was reading, and she was curious too. So, we did it."

"Did you like it?" Willow asked.

"Willow," Buffy yelled, sounding scandalized. "I don't want to know if she liked having… you know what."

"I think you can say the word, Buffy," Xander said. "It's not going to summon a demon."

"You never know," Faith said quietly

Giles took the brief moment of silence to turn the conversation to something else. "Dawn what do you mean you're a slayer?"

Willow and Buffy looked at Dawn surprised, as neither one of them caught that part of her confession.

"No, you are not. I would know if you were," Buffy said sounding slightly panicked. She then looked at Willow and Faith for back-up. Willow had her eyes closed in concentration, and Faith was looking at Dawn intensely.

"Yes, she is," they both said at the same time.

Buffy jumped up suddenly. "No, she's not. She can't be. NO. Just no," she said, and stomped her foot.

"Buffy, I can feel her. There are three slayers in this room. You, Faith, and Dawn." Willow said.

"Yeah, B. I can feel her too. Listen to your radar."

Buffy sat back down and opened her senses up. She sat there for a minute sensing what was around her. She sensed two slayers, three humans, Willow (who always radiated power,) and two demons. This last part baffled her. She looked at Cordelia with her head cocked to the right she said distractedly, "You're not allowed to slay unless one of us is with you." Then with confusion clear in her voice she asked, "Cordy, when did you become a demon?"

"Half-demon. I'm only half," Cordy said, sounding offended. "And about a year and a half ago. My visions were killing me, so a demon named Skip offered to alter my past, so I would never had gotten them, or make me half-demon. I chose the latter," she said while picking at her cuticles.

"Wow, Xander really is a demon magnet," Dawn said with a chuckle.

"Hey," he said insulted before shrugging. "Okay, so what I'm not getting is how Dawn got the power. I mean Willow did that spell to lead us to the potential in Sunnydale, and it turned out that it was Amanda."

"I think that spell did work the way it was supposed to. We only realized that it was Amanda after the bringers attacked. Maybe, because of whom Dawn is, it hid her from them. It does make sense though, I mean she was made from Buffy after all," Willow said.

"Ok, that makes a little sense," Dawn said before turning to her sister. "So, Buffy, what secrets have you been hiding?" she asked eager for some payback.

"I had sex with Faith," She said calmly, looking at Faith to gage her reaction. What she got however was not what she was expecting.

"B," she shrieked, jumping up from the couch. Seven heads (including Cordelia's, who had stopped playing with cuticles) turned from Buffy to Faith. All of them shocked that Faith had made such a girly sound. "We did not have sex. You take that back," she squeaked out. Buffy looked at Faith for a second before busting out laughing. Every head turned back to Buffy and stared at her as if she was crazy. Faith flopped back down on the couch next to Robin forgetting about his injury until she heard him hiss. "Sorry baby forgot. Ya ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Robin said, looking at the still laughing Buffy than back to Faith. "So, you never had sex with her?" he whispered.

"No," she hissed at him, and then gave Buffy a death glare sobering her up a little.

"Ah, come on Faithy. You got to admit it was a little funny," she said.

"No, it wasn't," she said grumpily.

"Faith, for real now. I don't have any secrets to share. Everybody already knows mine. It's your turn. What have you been hiding from us?" asked Buffy.

"Not a damn thing," she replied grumpily.

"Come on Faith, you're a part of this group too," Willow said.

To an outsider, that statement would seem simple, but to Faith it meant the world. Faith looked into Willow's eyes and noticed that Willow new exactly what those words meant to her. She also knew that Willow honestly meant those words. She and Willow understood each other in a way that no one else in the group could. Willow understood how easily it was to let the power consume you like a drug. She also knew how badly they both wanted to have a friendship. She liked Willow when she had first sprung into Sunnydale, but she let her ego get in the way of forming a friendship with her. She had been more interested in Buffy, and the unique slayer connection they had. She realized now how badly she screwed up, but she had no clue how to be a friend. She had no clue how to open up like a friend would.

Giles saw the silent storm raging in Faith's eyes and decided to move the conversation back on track. "Alright, I think that we've had enough secret sharing for now. You can resume this conversation after we get settled in. For now, I think we should spend our time prepare for the next step of our journey. Starting with, when should we head up to San Francisco?"

"I'd like to leave in a few weeks," Willow asked.

"Why so soon Willow?" asked Giles.

"My birthday is in a month. I'd like to meet my mom that day," she said.

"Oh yeah," Buffy said weakly. With everything going on, she had lost track of the days.

"Oh, alright then. We will depart for San Francisco as soon as we make the appropriate arrangements," he said to Willow.

The doors of the Hyperion opened with a bang, and in strolled Lorne. He was in one of his usual flamboyant suits, turquoise this time, which emulated his green skin. A small wiggly bundle was carefully nestled in his arms. Most of the group was looking at the demon in confusion, or more so what Lorne was carrying. Buffy was the only one who took a fighting stance though.

A loud squeal erupted through the room, causing all three slayers and Angel to cover their ears. Cordy was already gently snatching the bundle out of Lorne's arms before anybody recovered.

"Oopsies," Willow said, suddenly realizing that she had neglected to tell Buffy about Connor.

"Nice to see you too, Cordy," Lorne said, and then moved past the demon.

Angel stood up and moved next to Cordy and his, no longer sleeping, one-year-old son. "Hi buddy," he said softly to the baby.

"When did Cordelia have a baby?" Buffy wondered aloud.

"Oopsies," Willow repeated.

"Why do you keep saying that Will," Xander asked.

Willow looked up at Buffy wearing a sheepish look. "Hey Buffy. There's something I forgot to tell you."

"Yeah, Wills. I can see that," Buffy chuckled. "So, Cordelia has a baby. Not a big deal sweetie. That's pretty cool."

Faith snorted. "That's not Cor's kids."

"Whose baby is it then?" Buffy asked. Her eyes shifted around the room. "And who is the demon?"

Lorne bravely stepped up to the slayer and offered her his hand. "Hello dear. My name is Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan, but everybody just calls me Lorne.

"Um. Hello Lorne," Buffy said. She took the offered hand, sizing him up as she did. "I'm going to assume that you're a friendly demon."

"Lorne's an empathy demon from another dimension," Willow said. "He doesn't like violence."

"Okay," Buffy said letting her guard down. "It's nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine, my dear," Lorne said humbly. "It is nice to finally meet the famous Buffy, and I do believe that I can answer your other question. Connor is Angelcakes' son."

"Angelcakes?" Buffy questioned softly. Her eyes shifted past the demon to where the child was. He was no longer in Cordelia's arms. Instead the baby was nestled in Angel's arms being plastered with tender kisses.

"Holy crap," Xander said, as Buffy's jaw dropped.

"How is that even possible?" Dawn asked. "He's dead. The plumbing doesn't work anymore."

"Dawnie!" Willow and Buffy exclaimed.

"What? It's true," Dawn insisted.

"That's what I said," Faith said.

Buffy shot Faith a look, "Don't encourage her."

Faith went to say something else but was interrupted by Angel and Cordy rejoining the group. "Everyone. This is my son Connor," Angel said proudly.

"And by son, you mean you found him, and are just calling him son. Right?" Xander asked.

"Nope. Connor is my biological son."

"I would hate to sound redundant, but how is that possible?" Dawn asked.

"He boned Darla you dopes," Faith said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Darla? Darla. Darla. Darla," Buffy repeated, trying to remember why that name sounded so familiar. Realization dawned on her face. "Darla? Your sire, and ex-girlfriend? The woman I saw you stake seven years ago. That Darla?"

Angel nodded his head.

"How is that possibly?" Buffy asked this time.

"Long story short, Wolfram, and Hart, brought her back to life," Cordy said. "Like she was before she was turned, but she was dying. Angel tried to save her, but he failed, so Drucilla sired her again. Then Angel boned her, resulting in her pregnancy, and nine months later Connor was born, via Darla staking herself."

"Connor's birth was mystical?" Giles asked.

Angel nodded his head. "After Darla was brought back to life, I went through a series of trials to save her life. I won them, but the life I saved couldn't be used on her. She already received her second chance. That life became Connor's. It made his conception possible."

"Intriguing," Giles said. "Very intriguing. Is he human?"

"Yup, soul and all," Angel said proudly. He tickled Connor's neck, making the little guy giggle. "He's a little stronger and quicker then the average toddler, but we haven't noticed any abnormalities."

"That's incredible." Giles stood up and moved towards the father and son. "May I?" He asked, gesturing toward the child.

Angel looked down at his son, before saying, "Sure. Just be careful. He really likes glasses. He's broken several pairs of Wesley's."

Giles smiled at Angel as he gently took Connor from his father's arms. Connor looked into Giles' eyes curiously for a few moments, before smiling at the Watcher. "Amazing," Giles commented. "Truly amazing. He's a bloody miracle."

Angel rubbed Connor's head fondly. "Yeah he is."

Buffy was intently looking for similarities between Angel and Connor. She just couldn't believe that this was real. It had to be a mistake, or joke. "You're really his father? This isn't a joke?"

Angel looked closely at Buffy, trying to gage her emotions. "This is real Buffy. I really am Connor's father," he said slowly.

Buffy softly said, "Wow." It was surreal to be looking into the eyes of Angel's son. "Wow," she repeated stunned. At that point in time Buffy couldn't tell you what she was feeling other then stunned. Hurt? Jealous? Maybe even a little bit of anger?

"Do you want to hold him, Buffy?" Angel asked.

"I…um…I'm…Yeah. I do."

Giles gave Angel Connor, who turned and offered his pride and joy to Buffy. She hesitated for a moment before taking the baby. Connor looked at Buffy with confusion and uncertainty written on his young face. Buffy swore that he was sizing her up, but after a few seconds a big smile formed on the boy's face.

Buffy sadly returned his smile. Once upon a time she would have given anything for the chance to carry Angel's children. Knowing that there was zero chance at that ever happening, she had always squashed the though quickly. She kept it deep inside of her. Right next to the knowledge that her relationship with Angel was on a time clock. She kept it with the things she just couldn't face. But here was a child that was fathered by Angel. A child that wasn't hers, and that saddened her deeply. She was also incredibly happy for Angel though. If there was anyone of them that deserved this, it was him.

"He looks like you," She commented quietly.

"He acts like him too," Cordy snorted. "I swear. He walks around here with a scowl on his face looking hopelessly broody."

"He does not!" Angel exclaimed, and then weakly added, "He just looks very thoughtful."

"He broods just like his daddy," Cordelia stated matter-of-factly.

"Look, he's doing it right now," Dawn said pointing at Connor. "That's so weird. It's like an Angel mini-me."

"How much of dead-boy did the kid get?" Xander asked, keeping his distance.

Angel growled at the nick-name. "It is perfectly normal to get a few characteristics from the father."

"Yeah, because having a vampire for a dad is normal," Xander commented, while cooing at Connor.

"It's better then be a Zeppo," Cordelia bantered.

"Hey. I can hold my own. Thank you very much."

"That's why you're a pirate now?"

"Hey. I rock the eye patch."

"Okay. I'll give you that," Cordelia conceded. "You do have a sexy appeal to you now."

"Thank you!"

A cry rang out, interrupting the playful banter. Buffy was looking panicked. "He's crying. What did I do?" she asked frantically.

"Nothing," Angel chuckled; surprising most of the room's occupants. It was rare to even see the vampire smile, let alone a chuckle. "He's just tired," he said, and then took the baby from Buffy. "Its way past your bed time. Yes, it is." If they thought Angel chuckling was weird, it was nothing compared to him talk to his son in baby talk. "Say come on Auntie Cordy. It's time to tuck me into bed."

Buffy turned to Faith when Cordy and Angel disappeared and punched her on the arm.

"Ow B!" Faith exclaimed, as she grabbed her left arm. "What the fuck was that for? That shit hurt."

"For not telling me Angel had a kid," Buffy said erratically.

"Sure B. I'll pop back into Sunnydale and be like, 'Hi B. I'm sorry I went all evil and tried to kill you. By the way, Angel had a kid with somebody who wasn't you.' No thank you. I wasn't about to touch that one. I'd really rather be alive."

Buffy glared at Faith for a moment and then smile sweetly at her. "Fair enough."

"Good," Faith said. "Besides, I wasn't the only one who knew. I figured Red would tell you, so go hit her."

"No way. She scares me," said Buffy, who was looking at Faith like she was crazy.

"Hey," Willow and Faith said in unison. Buffy cracked an award-winning smile at them, letting them know that she was just playing.

"It is crazy," Xander stated, staring at the second-floor landing. "Dead-boy having a kid, and with another vampire's none-the-less. And what's up with him in Cordy. They are acting all co-parent-y. Like a couple or something."

"That's 'cause they are," Faith said, gathering the attention of everybody in the room.

"No, they aren't," Buffy said sharply.

"Yeah they are B. Come on you're not gonna tell me you can't smell their scent all over each other."

"No," Buffy said. "Why? Can you?"

"Yeah B. What's up with you? First you missed the fact that Dawnie's a slayer and then you miss mingling scents. You're usually more aware."

"And your usually not."

"No. I used to not be. Spend some time in isolation with nothing else to do but hone your slayer skills, and that all changes."

"I may be a little off, but there is no way your senses are that strong," Buffy said challengingly.

Faith gave Buffy a devilish grin before closing her eyes. She noticeably sniffed the air few times. "There is vamp wearing Chanel number nine two blocks away heading here. Approaching slowly. Must be on the prowl." She opened her eyes and smiled. "Should be outside in a minute, if ya want to go check."

Willow stood up quickly and headed out of the hotel. Buffy looked at Faith skeptically but followed Willow none-the-less. The pair returned a few minutes later, looking a little stunned. "How did you get blown up?" Buffy asked, attempting very hard not to show her amazement.

Faith shrugged her shoulders, "We've established that I ain't no good in a position of power. Besides, I can only extend my reach like that if I am concentrating. Hard to do that when you are looking after others, or generally in the heat in the moment."

"That's actually quite impressive Faith," Giles said. "It is a watcher's dream for his or her slayer to hone her skills like that. Few slayers have ever achieved the level which you demonstrated. I am impressed." An old feeling of regret and sorrow rouse inside of him. He always knew that he had messed up royally with Faith but watching Faith's amazing abilities cemented that fact further.

Faith said nothing. She didn't want the praise. She didn't feel like she deserved it. She screwed up and that screw up is the only reason her skills were so develop. It didn't help her in combat. She could only do it if she had enough time to concentrate.

"He's right Faith," Buffy said shocking her. "That was pretty cool."

Faith smiled ever so softly Buffy. It wasn't much, but Faith appreciated the gesture none-the-less. She knew integrating back into the world would be tough. It terrified her in fact. She didn't want to screw up, or for things to be like before. So yes, it was a small gesture, but one that gave her the tiniest bit of hope.


	2. The Elder's Visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed, Buffy, or any of the characters in the shows.

It had been a long couple of months for the Charmed Ones. What with loved ones being frozen and unfrozen, only to be taken away again. Then given back, again. New charges, turned friend, turned into their toughest battle yet. Only to have her help save the day in the end. For two sisters finding love right in the middle of it all. To say they had a long couple of months would be putting it mildly. But that was all over now. Or at least they hope it was.

It had been three days since the final battle, (if you could call it that), had taken place. Piper had made a spectacular lunch to celebrate them all making through the latest battle, as well as the end of their demon fighting days. Leo was sitting at the head of the table with Wyatt, followed by Chris to his right and Piper to his left. Paige was sitting next to Chris helping him eat his food. Paige's husband Henry was next to her. Phoebe was sitting next to Piper and with her boyfriend Coop next to her. At the foot of the table sat Victor.

Piper sat quietly at the table watching as her family talked about their futures; laughing about past magical mishaps; and generally joked around about silly thing. For the first time in eight years, everybody seems happy and content. Very much unlike the constant fear that they had been facing. She would speak occasionally, to add a comment or two into the conversation, and a genuine laugh would escape here and there. It wasn't like she wasn't happy that she had her husband back safe and sound, nor that she was finally done with her eight-year run as a charmed one. The exact opposite in fact. She just couldn't shake this nagging feeling that something was wrong. She easily chopped it up to the fact that Prue was missing from the table.

Piper found it very hard to believe that her big sister had been gone for nearly five years already. She often found herself expecting to see Prue walk through the door form work or her latest demon hunt. Witchcraft was Prue's baby. She was the one who threw herself into her craft and the protection of innocents. She wished Prue could be there to celebrate their achievements. After all, Prue made the biggest sacrifice. Her life.

Eight long years ago, their family consisted of three broken sisters. Prue and Phoebe were at odds, with Piper stuck in the middle trying desperately to keep the peace. For all the bad magic brought into their lives, it had also brought them so many good thing. It brought the three of them closer together. As close as three sisters could be. It had brought Piper's one true love, her heart and soul Leo, and with that union her beautiful sons Wyatt and Chris. She would never had known Paige existed if it hadn't been for that spell she cast after Prue's death. One of the hardest times in her life, and she had a surprise baby sister thrown into her lap. At the time, Paige existence in her life pissed her off, but she quickly learned that Paige was her saving grace. She was the person who kept the darkness of Prue's death from over taking her.

Magic had also brought Billie into their lives, and despite the trouble that had been caused because of Christy, Piper was glad that she had come along. She was in no means happy about what Billie did, but she did understand why she did it. She knew in her heart that she would do anything to have Prue back. Yes, she was still angry with Billie, but that anger didn't stop Piper from feeling sad that the young blonde wasn't celebrating with them. After all this victory was her victory as well.

In an attempt to move past killing her sister in self-defense, Billie had left. Too much had happened since she had met the sisters. She needed time to alone to cope with it all, and to find out who she was. Before she left she told the sisters she would come back and try to make amends for her betrayal. A promise that she fully intended to keep.

Piper had grown to see Billie as another sister. A much younger annoying sister, but one none the less. It hurt that Billie had believed Christy's lies and embellishments so quickly. She thought that Billie had trusted her more. Despite everything, Piper was willing to forgive Billie, and looked forward to reconnecting with her.

Leo tapped Piper on the shoulder, gathering her attention back to the celebration. The group was still talking avidly, while Leo was looking at her questioningly. She thanked all things heavenly for having this man back in her life. She smiled reassuringly at him and gave him a slight nod.

Just as the conversation had turned to the future, swirling blue lights lit up the already bright room. When the orbs stop, a woman, who looked to be in her forties with shoulder length light brown hair, stood near Victor. The whitelighter smiled at the family, and then with a kind tone she introduced herself, "Hello, my name is Tammy."

Piper, who was angry that this strange woman was interrupting their celebration, was the first to respond to the intruder, "Yea, hi," she said sardonically. "What the hell do you want?"

"Piper, she's an elder," scolded her youngest sister. Paige had never met Tammy, but she had seen the woman with some of the other Elders when she was 'up there'.

"So, what?! That doesn't mean a damn thing to me. Not after all they put me and Leo through. Not after what they did to all of us," Piper replied angrily. Once upon a time she would have been thrilled to have an elder in her home, however that time had passed several years ago. Too much had happened for her to enjoy the 'honor'.

Paige was about to say something when Tammy put her hand up to stop her. "It's alright Paige. I was well aware that my coming here might not be received positively, but if you'll give me the time, you'll only be slightly irritated with me," she said with a smirk.

"Piper let's hear what they have to say," said Leo. He knew Tammy from his whitelighter days. She had been much like himself while in the field. They both cared more about their charges then the Elder's stupid rules. He was confident that if Piper gave her the chance, she would like Tammy.

"Leo…"she began but was interrupted.

"Piper, Leo's right. Let's hear what she has to say. The Elders have already started to make amends for what they did in the past. If they hadn't, I wouldn't have Coop," Phoebe spoke up this time looking at Coop with a smile on her face. Though their relationship was still in it's infancy, she had quickly come to love the Cupid.

"Fine, but if you piss me off I'm blasting your ass back to where you came from," Piper said as she pointed her finger at the Elder.

"All I ask for is your time," Tammy began calmly, trying to keep her amusement hidden. "As you know your last battle was your final battle as just the Charmed Ones. You fought…"

"Wait, what do you mean as JUST the Charmed Ones?" Phoebe interrupted Tammy.

"It means we're not done like they said we would be," Piper said her voice clearly saying 'I told you so'. She was annoyed with the Elders, but she disappointed even more. She had been looking forward to spending time with her husband, and their sons without constantly worrying about their safety.

"Sort of," replied the Elder.

"What do you mean sort of?" asked Paige.

"Girls, why don't we let Tammy talk?" Leo suggested softly. If he let them keep interrupting Tammy, then they would never hear what she was trying to tell them.

"Fine," the sisters grumbled in unison, causing Leo smile. Somethings would never change, a fact that he was thankful for.

"As promised, your Charmed Destiny has been fulfilled. From now on you will only be facing low level demons every once and a while, however your lives are about to be entangles with a group of misfits who call themselves the Scoobies. They are comprised of humans, an earth witch, and a magical being called a slayer. Being who you are, I am sure that you will find yourselves aiding with their type of demons," the elder replied, smirking again.

"Scoobies, what kind of a name is the Scoobies?" Paige asked rhetorically.

"What is a slayer?" Piper asked.

"I do believe there is an entry in the book of shadows on slayers, though it is a bit outdated. I can't tell you anymore about these people, but I can tell you that you won't have to wait long to learn about them for yourselves. They are heading straight for you, and should be here in a few weeks," Tammy answered.

"Why are they heading here?" Phoebe asked.

"I can't tell you that," Tammy replied.

Piper made an annoyed sound, and mumbled 'stupid elders', before cockily asking, "Well what can you tell us then?"

"I know you are frustrated, but somethings are best learned by experience. If we gave you all the answers, then life would get pretty boring."

"Boring sounds pretty good right about now," Piper said.

"We tried boring, and failed at it miserable," Phoebe reminded.

"Yeah, but that was because we were trying to be people that we weren't," Piper countered.

"Let's face it," Paige interrupted. "We just don't function properly without magic in our lives. There is always going to be demons trying to take over the world, and there will always be people we are compelled to save."

"I'm being out voted here," Piper grumbled.

"It's bound to happen eventually," Phoebe smirked.

Phoebe shook her head no. "Oh, no. We want to know what the hell she is talking about just as badly as you. All we are saying is that we are crappy at living a normal, boring life."

"What she said," Paige agreed avidly.

"Great. Now that we've established that we all want to know, she can tell us," Piper said, and then turn and gave Tammy a pointed look.

"I am sorry, but I cannot tell you anything more then I already have."

"Well just lovely," Piper snarked.

"Is that all you had to tell them?" Henry asked, speaking up for the first time. He was still new to this whole magic thing but didn't seem like something that warranted a home visit. They could have easily told Paige that during one of her 'staff' meeting. Which she was now required to start attending.

"No," Tammy said with a smirk that seemed permanently fixed on her face. "You are receiving a reward for your services." She stopped talking knowing that she was going to be interrupted again. Sure, enough Phoebe enthusiastically asked, "What reward?"

"Now what fun would it be if I told you that. It's a surprise. All I can say is that your reward will arrive shortly after the arrival of the first Scooby, and that it is all legit," the elder stated.

"Of course," Piper commented.

"Is that all?" Paige asked. Much like her husband, she thought that was something that she could have been told when she went 'up there'.

"No, it's not. A new whitelighter is being assigned to the next generation," Tammy said, and then continued quickly before she was interrupted again. "You also might want to make room here. You're going to need it. That is all I am permitted to say for now, but I can promise this. Everything will be explained with time. I must be going." She began to orb out before they could stop her, but then reappeared. "Oh, and you might want to turn the TV on. Goodbye," she said and then disappeared in a swarm of orbs.

It was quiet for only a minute before all three sisters started talking at once. Piper was saying about stupid elders and cryptic messages. Phoebe was wondering aloud about the reward they were going to be receiving, and why they would need more room. While Paige was grumbling about a new whitelighter taking over her territory. None of the men however could follow what they were saying. After a few minutes of utter chaos, Coop whistled to get their attention. Piper, Phoebe, and Paige looked around the table wearing matching looks on their faces. Mumbling sorry to them.

"That's alright girls. How about we put the boys down for their naps before we continue?" Leo put out there, looking at the boys who had sat through the elder's visit quietly eating. "Hey buddies, are you done eating?"

"Yes Daddy." Both boys replied.

"Good job. Are you ready for your nap?" he asked them.

"NO!" Chris responded with fierceness. Wyatt however looked around the table at everyone before say, "No, I want to stay and find out what's going on."

"Aw, buddy what if we promise to let you know what's going on after your nap?" Piper asked. Wyatt seemed satisfied with this. He grabbed his little brother's hand, said goodnight, and orbed out.

"I'll go make sure they're in bed," Henry said as he got up from the table.

Piper yelled 'thank you' as he went up the stairs.

"Did any of that make any sense to you?" Victor asked, speaking for the first time since Tammy showed up.

"About as much sense as they allow," Phoebe sighed. "I think we should turn the TV on."

They all moved into the living room. Piper, Leo, Phoebe and Coop squeezed onto the couch, while Paige and Victor sat in the arm chairs across from them. Leo reached for the remote that was on the coffee table. As soon as he turned it on they saw what looked like an over view of a giant hole, and the caption at the bottom of the screen saying 'One week after earthquake destroys entire town of Sunnydale Ca.'

"That's were a hellmouth is located," Leo said, jumping up from his spot on the couch. "This is not good. We need to find out what happened."

"No, I don't think we have to," Coop said. Since he was a second-generation Cupid, he had spent his entire life around cryptic Elders, and other magical creatures. He was quick to comprehend the hidden meaning behind their words. "Tammy said that you're were going to be aiding a group called the Scooby Gang, and that we should make room. She told us to turn the TV on, and that is what we see. I think that whoever these Scooby Gang people are, had something to do with that hellmouth being destroyed. They are already on their way here. All we have to do is wait until they show up," Coop finished, looking at the girls for their approval.

"I agree with Coop. Let's wait to see how this plays out before we go looking for trouble," Piper said, as she pulls her husband back down on the couch next to her. "Besides, it's been a week since the town was destroyed. I don't think there is much we can do."

Paige's brows furrowed. "How did we not know that an entire town was destroyed?"

Piper snorted, "We were pretty busy hiding from the entire magical community.

"And dying," Phoebe commented.

"And traveling through time to save your butts," Piper added.

"Which I for one am grateful for," Coop inputted, causing the sisters and Leo to smile.

Phoebe snuck Coop a kiss, and then turned to Leo and asked," I am more concerned with what a hellmouth is and why you are freaking out Leo?"

"A hellmouth is a location of mystical energy," Leo replied calmly. "It is exactly how it sounds. A mouth to hell. When a hellmouth is opened it releases very old demons. Essentially unleashing hell on earth. These demons are nothing like the ones you have faced, or even the demons that this Scooby gang fight. The demons that where spawned from them are not pure. I'm not even sure if your powers would work on them. No Halliwell has ever faced an 'old one' before."

"What do you mean? Don't the Scooby Gang fight the same demons?" asked Paige.

Leo shook his head, "There are several different types of demons that walk the earth. If they closed the hellmouth, then it is likely that they fight demons that don't have magical powers of their own.

"Oh, so that's what she meant when she said their demons," She said more to herself then the group.

"What's the difference between our demons, and the Scooby gang's demons?" Phoebe asked.

"There magical properties are different," Leo said. "When the world first began, the 'Old Ones' roamed the earth freely, until the humans came and fought them back into the earth. Before the final demons left, they bit a human, and created the demons the Scooby gang fight. They are like earth witches. They do not have magical powers of their own, but they can channel magic from the earth. A lot of their demons have a human soul and are neutral, not bad, but not quite up to human's standard of good."

"Okay, what about our demons?" Phoebe asked.

"The demons you face were the product of an earth demons mating with a born witch, like yourself. Then those witch-demons mated with each other, and so on, until you have the demon you face today. Mostly evil, but you have the occasional demon who has retain a human soul, like Cole. Though they once were united, the separated demons started branching off. Earth demons choosing to congregate where the mystical energy emits from the earth the most, like a hellmouth, while our demons choose to go where there are natural born witches reside. They are drawn to you."

"Leo," Piper began. "We've been doing this for eight years now, and we're just now learning about this, why?"

"Well I was teaching the different kinds of magic and demons to my students, but since the two worlds don't cross that often I figured the knowledge wouldn't be much use to you. If the elders are putting us on this path, then I think the two branches are going to start to intertwine." Leo said matter-of-factly to his wife.

Paige snorted, "Next you're going to tell us Harry Potter is real and that there really is a place called Diagon Alley," she said sarcastically.

Leo gave her an 'I'm not touching that one' look, which Phoebe took as conformation. "HE'S REAL! All those mentions of Harry Potter over the years and you're JUST now telling us he's real!" Leo just shrugged his shoulders at her. "And why am I even surprised. Of course, he's real. Why wouldn't he be real? Are anything in our lives going to be normal?" She babbled to herself.

Henry walked into the room sitting on the arm of Paige's chair. "The boys are out. So, what'd I miss?" He asked.

"An earthquake destroyed Sunnydale. Which is a hellmouth," Piper replied.

"There are demons out there that we have never faced," Paige said.

"Harry Potter's real," Phoebe said.

Henry just looked confused, but already used to this he just said, "OK," While making a mental note to ask Paige later. They sat in silence for a few minutes going over everything in their heads before the silence was broken.

"Your lives are complicated," Victor said, speaking up for the first since moving to the living room.

"Yup, I'm going to clean up from lunch," Piper said, officially ending the conversation. She wanted things to go back to how she was feeling barely twenty minutes ago. Free.

Free from the fear of what evil being is going to attack next. Free from the next evil being who plans to steal one of her children. Free from the fear of losing another one of her family members to this terrible and endless war.

Piper wasn't by any means, naïve. She knew that there still were going to demons that will need to be taken care of. Innocents, that were going to need saving, but she also knew that they were going too far and in between. They were promised an end, and now that end was gone. The light that had been burning brightly in Piper's chest, had suddenly gone dim. She would do what she had to do though. This new group sure would needed her help, and she would be there for them. Whomever they were.

Her family was once again being thrust back into the unknown. A place she didn't like. At least this time it seemed like she would be more like a side-kick, then leaders. That brought a little bit of comfort to Piper. Until this new group show up, she wasn't going to worry about it. Instead she was going back to living her life, as carefree as she possible could.

Phoebe stood up and then pulled Paige up too. She knew how her sister was feeling all too well and knew that the best thing for all of them was for some sisterly bonding. She followed Piper into the kitchen dragging Paige along with her.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Later that same night, Willow was lying in bed when Kennedy finally walked through the door. The rest of the crew had returned hours previously, sans the young woman. Willow would have been worried, had it not been for her new powers. She could sense that she was perfectly fine.

"Hi sweetie," Willow said. "Did you have a nice hunt?"

"Yeah, it was decent," Kennedy said; a smile graced fully on her lips. "I feel calmer now. I didn't think being a slayer would feel this…intense. Especially after a week of slaying."

"Buffy said it would level out once you get a hold of your gifts," Willow said. "How do you feel otherwise?"

Kennedy smiled widely at Willow. "Exhilarated. It's amazing what my body can do and feel now. The power I have is awesome."

"The power is amazing sweetie," Willow said lightly. "Just don't let the power consume you like it did me and Faith. It's incredibly easy to lose yourself in it."

Kennedy sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed Willow's hand. "You don't have to worry about that, baby."

"But sweetie you…" Kennedy placed two fingers over Willow's mouth to silence her.

"I do know sweetie. You don't have to worry about me going rogue because I have you holding my kite string." She paused and smiled softly. "I have you to keep me grounded and level headed. I have you to help me through this transition."

"Awe," Willow gushed. Kennedy was not Tara, and though she fought it at first, the young woman plowed her way into Willow's heart. She would always hold a special place in her heart for Tara, but Kennedy was her future. "You have a way with words, Ms. Kennedy."

"Only the truth baby," Kennedy said smoothly. She gave Willow a soft, loving kiss before moving away from the bed.

"So, I have something we should talk about."

Kennedy was midway through taking her pant off when she froze. Those words worried her immensely.

"It's nothing bad, I promise. It's just a small conversation," Willow smoothly said. "We haven't had a chance to talk about the meeting last week, because you've been restless. Every time you're in the same room with me you are either sleeping, or we're… flying kites."

"I know," Kennedy said, and the flopped onto the bed. She leaned down and gave Willow a kiss. "I've been a bad girlfriend. So, I'm all ears. What's up."

"We made a decision on where we are going next. Well I kind of decided for us," Willow sheepishly said.

"Really?" Kennedy asked. She didn't think they were planning on leaving Los Angeles until they got their bearings back. Of course, she really hadn't been doing anything other than sleeping, slaying, and taking care of the double H's. Faith hadn't been kidding when she told them they would get hungry and horny after slaying. "Where'd you decide?"

"San Francisco," Willow said in a chipper, childlike tone. It made Kennedy smile. Since the beginning of their relationship, everything had been dark and fleeting. They were literally in the middle of an apocalypse. They weren't many opportunities to just relax and be happy. Plus, there had always been that nagging thought at the back of their minds; that it could end at any moment. They didn't like to think about it, but both knew it would simply reality. Now everything was the different. They had a real chance at being happy.

"Why San Francisco?"

"Because that's where my birth mother is," Willow said almost shyly.

"You found her?" Kennedy asked surprised.

"Well not really. I looked her up years ago, but I can't find anything on her since 2001. I still have her old address though, and her sister Piper still lives there. I was hoping she would be able to point me in the right direction."

"It seems a little weird that you can't find anything on her. Do you think it has something to do what magic?"

"No. She probably just changed her name and I can't find a record for it," Willow guessed. "My hacking skills are a little rusty without the use of magic."

"You can use magic to hack a computer?" Kennedy asked, stunned.

"Well yeah," Willow said sheepishly. "I can use magic to do just about anything."

"Then why don't you use magic to find the information that you need now?" Kennedy asked out of curiosity.

"I'm just trying to limit my magically used for a while," Willow replied. "I used a lot of magic for the slayer spell. It's usually best to take hiatus after something like that."

"That sounds like a good thing," Kennedy said, while silently thanking the heavens for having this woman in her life alive and well. She didn't know what she would have done if Willow had died in that wretched school. "What else did you talk about?"

"Not much. My telling them about me being adopted, trigger a secret telling session"

"Anything good revealed?"

"Mmm, not really. Mostly just stuff we did a while ago," Willow answered casually. She shrugged her shoulders, "Dawn is a slayer."

Kennedy hummed a little bit, and then said, "I knew about Dawn already."

"How did you know already?" Willow asked. She was slightly shocked and sad that Dawn had told Kennedy (and probably the other baby slayers) before she had told her.

"I can sense her sweetie," Kennedy said.

"Oh right," Willow sighed in relief. "I thought that she told you and the other girl's first. Not that it would matter if she did, because it wouldn't. I just mean that I want to be the kind of person that Dawn could come to with this type of stuff. We used to be close until I went and bumped it up. I would really like to have that with her again."

Kennedy leaned down and captured Willow's lips in a soft kiss. After the tender moment, she pulled back. "It's okay sweetie," she said softly. "I'm not offended, and I understand where you're coming from. You may have bumped it up but remember that there's still time to fix it. Just don't wait too long, because you never know when that time is going to run at.

Willow knew all too well how fast time could run out, but Kennedy was right. There was time right now to make things right. "Thank you," Willow said contently.

"You are very welcome," Kennedy said, and then leaned back down to capture Willow's bottom lip. The kiss grew deeper, and incredibly heated. Lips traveled along Jaw lines; grasped ear lobes; suckled, nibbled, and licked at pulse points.

Willow's hand had made it to the edge of Kennedy's panties when the younger woman jumped up. As she ran to the bathroom door, she yelled, "I need a shower. I'm covered in vamp dust. Yuck!"

Willow stared at the bathroom door in shock, unsure of what had just happened. She flopped back against her pillow and sighed audibly. She laid there for a full minute before Kennedy's last statement finally registered in her mind. "Yuck," she whined and began frantically rubbing her hands over her tongue. Unsatisfied with her attempts, she jumped up and followed her girlfriends tracks to brush her teeth.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Faith was sitting behind the front desk, with her feet propped up, and a book in hand. Reading was a secret passion of hers. When she wasn't working out or honing her sensing skills, she spent her time reading just about every book the prison library held. At first, she only did it to pass the time, but after a while she realized that she liked reading. It became a great way escape from her everyday reality, and why she was there in the first place.

She wasn't reading the book she held however. The man standing by the doorway watching her was distracting her from words on the page. She could practically sense Giles' nervousness. "Are you just going to continue watchin' me read, or are you gonna ask me what ya want to know?"

Giles jumped lightly but composed himself quickly. "There is something that we need to discuss. That is… It's been a week, and you haven't mention what your plans are for the future. I was just wondering…That is… Were you…"

"Spit it out G," Faith said irritated. She was still looking at her book feigning disinterest. She knew exactly what Giles was failing at asking and was trying very hard to freak out.

"Faith, are you planning on turning yourself in to the police?" he asked hesitantly.

She sighed quietly as she closed the book. She too a few deep breaths to calm the raging storm that was bubbling up in her chest. A trick she learned from her therapist. "Don't worry G. I'll be out of your hair in a few days. Just wanted a chance to breath in the real world before heading back to the slammer."

Giles stepped closer to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. Giles wasn't a stupid man. Despite not being able to see the pain written on Faith's face, he knew. He could see the struggle going on inside of her for the last week. "I know how hard this has been for you, and if you decide you want to be free, then we will figure out a way."

Faith turned around slowly and looked up at the man. "I'm dangerous Giles. We both know it. The longer I'm out, the more we risk me losing it again. So, I will be going back."

"No, you are not," A voice bellowed through the lobby. Faith and Giles turned to see Willow standing on the staircase looking disheveled, with Kennedy standing a few steps behind her looking just as disheveled. Both were wearing a t-shirt and panties and nothing else. "She is not going back there," she said slowly but pointedly.

"Damn Red, you're just full of surprises lately," Faith said, attempting to cover up the emotions that were threatening to come out. She and Willow had never been besties. Her slayer connection to Buffy prevented that. Plus, there was that pesky little issue with her going all evil on Red's ass.

Willow practically glided across the lobby in irritation, with anger written on her face. She stopped when she hit the desk and loudly growled, "There is no way I am going to allow you to go back there."

"Red…" Faith tried but was quickly silenced.

"No. No. NO," Willow yelled.

"Willow," Buffy yelled from the landing across the lobby. Her room door was still ajar, and Dawn's head could be seen peeking out. "What's going on?"

Giles peeked his head from behind the reception desk. "Willow seems to be upset by the Faith's impending return to prison."

Willow scoffed.

"And why is she upset by this?"

"She is standing right here, and she is upset because Faith doesn't deserve to be there anymore."

"Red, it's where I belong. I don't want to go back, but it's WHERE I BELONG," Faith said, eerily calm.

"No Faith. You're good now. You've proven that you're good. You stayed in jail for three years when you could have gotten out at any time. You escaped to help Angel, and you came to Sunnydale, even after everything that happened to help. If anyone should be in jail it's me," Willow said in one breath.

The calm demeanor Faith had carefully been displaying, faltered. She rose from her seat and placed her hands on the counter. She looked at Buffy, Dawn, and Kennedy, who were all standing a few feet behind Willow, and hesitated for a moment. She didn't do well with others seeing her vulnerable. She was sure they could hear the deep breath she took, and her rapid heartbeat. She leaned forward so her face was just inches from Willow's, and growled, "You were fuckin' juiced up on magic when you did that shit. Damn it Red, you had no control over what you were doing."

The raw emotions seeping through Faith's usually stoic demeanor, caused tears to form in Willow's eyes. "I knew what I was doing was wrong," she admitted. "I let the magic take over so that I could avenge Tara's death. I took pleasure in killing Warren and Rack. I almost killed Dawnie, Buffy, and Giles. Not to mention trying to destroy the World, and what did I get? Magical detox in England, followed by learning to properly use the powers that got me into that mess in the first place. While you were stuck in that place like a caged animal, not getting enough food to eat, not being able to go out and do, literally what you were made to do."

"Yeah it sucked, but jail is where I should be," Faith said. She was trying to get her to give in, so she wouldn't have to reveal that she feared being out in the real world. She didn't trust herself to stay on the right path. A few weeks of being out of the joint was one thing, but anything more than that was pushing it in her book.

Fright was not the only thing that made her want to go back. As much as she wanted to be a part of their group, she did not feel worthy of it. Especially after she nearly got most of the potentials killed by leading them into a trap. She felt that she did not have a place in their world. She felt as though she should be contained.

"I agree with Willow, Faith," Giles said. "I am ashamed to say that, I did not treat you very well back then. You came off so strong willed and confident, that I thought you could take care of yourself. I was wrong. Given your young age, infant slayer status, lack of parental guidance, as well as the traumatic death of your previous watcher, it is clear to me now that you were the one who needed me the most. Instead, I placed all my attention onto Buffy, and for that I am truly sorry. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would have taken more interest in your wellbeing."

A part of Faith was thrilled by what Giles' had said, but there was also a sinking feeling growing in her gut. She did not want them taking any part of the blame for what she did. She was to blame for her actions and only her. Nearly three years of therapy had taught her to accept that. By accepting that, then she could start letting go of the past, and it had worked. Once she had taken the full blame onto herself, she had been able to find a median inside of herself. A calming point, so to speak.

She looked at Buffy to gage her reaction to what Giles had said. Buffy was looking at her curiously, as though she was trying to figure out what Giles had been talking about.

"What does her age have to do with what happened?" Dawn asked. "She's the same age as Buffy and Willow. Isn't she?"

"No, Dawn she is not," Giles sighed. "In fact, she..."

"Giles, please don't?" Faith begged quietly, shocking everybody in the room. If Giles told them her age, then it would be just another reason to take the blame away from her. She did not want that.

"Hey," Buffy said. "What did we agree upon last week? No more secrets, so spill."

Buffy's tone wasn't her usual bossy tone, instead it was soft and compassionate.

"Faith was only fourteen the first time we met her, which would make her nineteen now," Giles said, for once knowing that he had made the right decision for the girl. There were a lot of pent up frustrations still regarding Faith's actions, especially when it came to Buffy. At least now it would make more sense in their minds. Particularly because Dawn is just two years younger than Faith, and the entire group has done everything in their power to protect the youngest member from the dangers of their world.

When Faith had come to Sunnydale, Willow had briefly looked up to her. She thought that she had found another friend. She was ashamed to say that she had let petty jealousy come in between that possible friendship. Since the night Buffy stabbed Faith on her roof, a part of her knew that she was to blame for what had led to that happening, but she had rationalized that she was young and stupid. That Faith was older than they were and should have known better than to do those things. After she had killed Warren, and drained the life sustaining magic out of Rack, she began to understand Faith more. She began to understand what had lead Faith to the point of betraying the Scoobies. It was starting to all make sense to her.

When she had seen Faith for the first time at Angel's, Faith was still in her coma. Willow couldn't help but think how young she looked lying there, but after she had awoken she realized how different Faith was. It was visible in the way she carried herself. In the way she spoke to her. Willow could tell that she was calmer, but there was something else in Faith that she could see. Pain. That was one of the main reasons Willow did not want Faith to return to jail. Faith was still in so much pain over everything, and it wasn't doing her any good being in that place. Slowly starving, drowning in her own pain and grief. No, she needed to be somewhere that Willow could help her work through everything. Just like Giles had helped her. Knowing Faith's true age not only cemented that fact thought even further than before, but it also made her guilt feel immensely worse as well. She felt that the group had practically pushed Faith into the arms of the mayor.

Buffy could not stop staring back and forth between Faith and Dawn. She remembered clearly what it was like to take care of a fourteen-year-old Dawn. She was young, immature, impulsive, and constantly kept getting herself into dangerous situations if you left her by herself for five minutes.

"But...but...but... You said that you dropped out of school. You drank beer when we were at The Bronze, and you had a motel room, and...and... You knew how to do stuff...sexual stuff... that no fourteen-year-old should know how to do."

Faith sighed as she sat back in her chair, and then put her head in her hands. She was silently cursing Giles for tying her hands like that. She never wanted them to know her real age. She had been perfectly fine with them think that she was older than them. Not only that, but there was no way she was going to get out of here until she revealed some of her past to them. Shit. She hated doing the sharing thing.

"I didn't drop out, per say. More like skipped out," Faith grunted, and then sighed again. She stood back up and then looked around the room. "My watcher Diana home schooled me for two years before she died. So, nobody was really looking for me when I bolted from Boston. At least not until I landed in the slammer. It wasn't hard to convince people to give me beer, or a hotel room. I looked older then I was, and I knew how to get people to overlook my lack of Id. As for my sexual knowledge, it may have been your first time, but it definitely wasn't mine."

Faith's last comment made Xander scoff, and Willow snicker.

"Look, my age don't mean shit. It doesn't change anything that I've done, nor does it change who I am," Faith said.

"Yes, it does," Willow countered, and then remembered a conversation she had shared with Tara about Faith. "She may have never really met you, but Tara was on your side. After the whole body switching incident, she tried to get me to see what it must have been like for you. She had even said that you seemed much younger then I had previously let on. She had described you as a lost young soul, looking for guidance, knowledge, and love. I didn't understand it at the time, but I think I do now. You may think that your age has nothing to do with what you did, but it does, and it changes everything."

"How could she have possibly known anything like that about me?" Faith inquired sharply, not really knowing why she was irritated by that knowledge.

"Tara knew things sometimes that nobody else knew. She was the one who knew you were in Buffy's body. She saw it in her aura."

Faith relaxed again, and then said, "She came to see me once. To tell me that Buffy had died."

Willow gave Faith a soft smile, and said, "I know. I wasn't happy that she did it. I felt that you didn't deserve to know, but she insisted on somebody telling you. I refused to be the one to do it, so when I was telling Angel she was telling you."

"She asked me to go back to Sunnydale with her. She said I was needed there, and I practically told her to go fuck herself."

"She didn't tell me that," Willow replied.

"Why didn't you come back?" Buffy asked suddenly. She wasn't sure why, but she was suddenly overcome with an insecure feeling.

Faith froze. She knew exactly why she had told Tara no. In simply words, she just wasn't ready to return. When Tara came to her she had just started talking in her therapy sessions and had yet to work through any of the things that had happened during her short stay in Sunnydale. She was still angry, at herself, as well as the Scooby Gang. She didn't want to be dropped into a hostile situation, only to become exactly what she had always felt; a backup. She wanted them to come to her because they wanted and needed her, not because they had no other choice. She certainly didn't want the person who was coming to her, to be somebody who she had never officially met. She wanted it to be one of the people who she had hurt. More so, she was afraid of herself, and what would happen if she was put in charge. She wasn't ready to divulge that knowledge to them though.

So, she put it in simple, short terms. "I wasn't ready," she said, and then hoped that they would except that answer.

Willow took Faith's hand. "I understand why you wanted to stay in jail Faith. I really do, but I'm not going to let you rot away in there for the rest of your life. I'll help you face your fears, because the only way to conquer them is to look them head on. Not by cowering in the shadows starving to death. We can help each other. I'll talk to Angel. I bet ya he's already started the process."

Faith snorted, "Yeah, he probably has." She sighed again, and slowly made her way around the front of the reception desk. "You're not gonna give up, are ya?"

"Nope," Willow chirped.

Faith leaned up against the counter. "Then I guess I'll just have to accept that."

"Yay," Willow yelled. A second later, Faith found herself being pulled up and into Willow's arms with impossible strength.

Faith grunted when her body hit Willow's; more out of shock then the impact itself. "Red you're crushing me."

"Oh sorry," she said meekly. As she backed away, she realized who she was apologizing to. "Hey. You're a slayer. The only way I could crush you is if I was using magic and I wasn't. So, you're lying to me. Lying isn't nice."

Faith threw her hands up in the air in surrender. She hated that Willow had put a pout on those lips of hers. "Alright, Chill Red. I'll let you hug me."

"Nope. No more hugs for you," Willow said, making the pout more prominent. Willow didn't like either look that flashed across Faith's face. Discomfort and if she wasn't mistaken, sadness. A smile appeared on Willow's face. "I'm just playing with you. You can always have hugs."

Faith was pulled back into Willow's arms feeling more than confused. Once she relaxed, she found herself enjoying the friendly hug. Then, before she had a chance to process the contentment she felt, Willow released her.

Giles cleared his throat uncomfortably. "While I'm glad you're getting along, I would like to remind you that you are ill dress at the moment."

Willow look confused at the man, and then looked down at her own body. She sheepishly looked up at the group, blushing brightly. "I forgot I wasn't dressed."

"Just be glad she wasn't sleeping naked," Kennedy commented sleepily. "One seconded we were cuddled up together fast asleep, the next second Willow was knocking me out of the bed on her mad dash out of the room."

"Sorry baby," Willow pouted.

"It's okay sweetie," Kennedy replied. "I would like to know what the hell happened."

"Me too," Faith agreed, eyeing Willow suspiciously. "I barely got done telling G that I was planning on going back, when you showed up. How'd you know?"

Willow shifted on her feet slightly. "I felt your pain."

"You felt my… What the hell are you talking about?"

Willow laid her hand on her stomach, and tenderly said, "I can feel every slayer in the world. Usually it's a simple feeling of them being in existence, but sometimes when a slayer is feeling very strongly about something, I can feel it as well. You, Buffy, Ken, and Dawn are the only ones who I can isolate from the rest of the slayers."

Giles made a soft noise. "That is fascinating."

"More like discombobulating," Willow said.

"Well yes," Giles fumbled. "But you must admit this is a fascinating turn of events. It would seem that you are the new guardian to the slayers. A powerful guardian too. Faith and I had barely begun talking when you interrupted."

"You were watching me for half an hour G," Faith said softly. "You were making me nervous."

"It was her nervousness that woke me," Willow concurred. "I came running when I felt her nervousness turn to overwhelming sadness and fear."

"But Faith doesn't fear anything," Buffy commented innocently before she had a chance to really think about those words.

"You still don't get it, B," Faith replied darkly. She tossed her book of the counter and made her way up the stairs to her room before anybody could stop her.

"Way to go Buffy," Dawns said.

"What'd I do?" Buffy asked innocently.

"You upset Faith," Willow replied. She had her eyes closed with her hand resting on her stomach. She opened her eyes.

Giles cleared his throat. "I believe the message they are trying to convey is that you are still seeing Faith as that brash, fearless, strong willed woman she portrayed when she arrived in Sunnydale, instead of seeing the matured version she has allowed to slip through as of late."

Dawn nodded her head. "Faith is pretty awesome when you get to know her."

"I know," Buffy snapped lightly. "I don't know why I said that. It was stupid."

"Uh huh," Dawn said. "I'm gonna see if she's okay."

"She's not," Willow commented.

"Yeah. That's a little creepy," Buffy said.

"I'm gonna have to agree with you there," Kennedy agreed.

"You didn't seem to mind the connection a few hours ago," Willow replied.

Kennedy's eyes widened. "That's how you knew I wanted you to that thing? I just thought you were doing that mind thingy Dawn is always talking about."

"I didn't realize you wanted to be that close yet," Willow said.

"Well yeah. I care about you, and I think I'd be cool to have you in my head during sex."

"You might want to rethink that. It's a bit disturbing to have her in your head," Dawn commented. "And can I just say that I'd like it very much, if you weren't feeling me when I am having sex. That takes the creep factor to the next level."

"Ditto," Buffy said as she physically shivered. Just the thought of Willow feeling what she was feeling during such an act gave her the heebies jeebies.

"I don't know if I can shut it off," Willow replied. She was feeling the heebies jeebies as well.

"Do you think the connection can go both ways?" Kennedy asked.

Willow thought about for a minute. "I don't know. Have you guys been feeling any weirdness lately?"

"You mean other than the increased speed, hearing, sight, and being able to sense people that are around us? Dawn asked sarcastically.

"Yeah," Willow replied.

Kennedy snorted causing Willow to smile.


	3. Preparing

Piper huffed loudly as she and Paige lugged the mattress onto the spare bed they kept in the attic. The two sisters had spent most of the day cleaning up the clutter in the large open room to make space for their impending guests.

Paige sat on the bed, happy to get a moment's rest. She glanced around the clean attic impressed at how well it looked. "Do you think we might be going a bit overboard?"

Piper paused and looked to her sister. "What do you mean?" she asked and then returned her attention to the torn pillow.

"We've spent the last week moving the office into the nook downstairs, moving all of Billie's things into the office, all of your gym equipment into the basement to make that into a bedroom again, and we've now cleaned up the attic. We don't even know how many people are coming, or if they will be staying here."

Piper huffed as she flopped onto the bed next to her sister. "I just keep seeing that crater on the news. Whoever they are, they've lost everything. They've sacrificed everything to keep this world safe, and they are heading our way. I'd rather be over-prepared than under."

"So basically, your maternal instincts are kicking into over-drive," Paige summed up.

Piper snorted at her sister's observation. "Yeah. Pretty much," she said with a smile.

"Speaking of maternal instincts, where are my perfect nephews today?"

"Chris is spending the day with Dad, and Leo took Wyatt to magic school to do some recon."

Paige looked at Piper in shock. "And you're okay with your three-year-old son going onto a demon infested school, with only his mortal father as backup?"

Piper stood abruptly and walked over to the Book of Shadows. She opened it to the page that she and her sisters had recently added. A complete telling of the last eight years. Their tale was wonderful, and frightening all rolled into one. It was the blank pages that followed the accounting that frightened Piper. Pages left blank for their children to fill, and she wanted them to be filled. She didn't want to be left blank because her son's lives were cut short, or for their deaths at the hands of evil to be written there, like she had done for Prue. She wanted her children to write about wonderful adventures, funny magical mishaps, and long beautiful lives filled with happiness and family.

"Okay with? Not so much, but I am realistic," she said without looking up from those blank pages. She sighed, and then looked up at Paige. "Grams kept our magic a secret from us, and because of that, it took too long for us to get control over our powers. We lost Andy because of this, and then we lost Prue as well. I don't want that for my sons. As much as I want Wyatt and Chris to have normal lives far from magic, I know that will never be a possibility."

Piper paused as she began moving towards the bed again. "When we went back in time to the seventies we saw our younger selves. I was only five at the time, but I already had better control over my powers then I did six months after our powers were unbound. We taught little Prue and Piper how to fight a demon. Their control over their powers was impressive. Even more so because they had somebody guiding them. I can't help but think how much more prepared for all this we would have been if Grams had never bound our powers. Maybe Prue would still be with us, and maybe we would have met you sooner."

"I get it," Paige said, understanding what Piper was trying to explain. "We can't change the past, but you can do something about the future."

"I just want the boys to have every opportunity that we didn't. So, no, I am not okay with my three-year-old scoping out a demon infested school with his mortal father, but if learning the logistic of demon hunting at a young age helps keep him alive and not evil in the future, then that is something I can be okay with." Piper looked up at her sister with a smirk. "Besides, I took a trip to magic school and did a little recon of my own."

"You, sly dog, you," Paige teased, and then playfully pushed her sister. "So, is it safe?"

"There are a couple of low level demons squatting, but nothing Wyatt can't handle if the need arises."

"That kid is something else," Paige chuckled. "I was talking to him a few days ago and I swear to God I was not talking to a three-year-old.

Piper chuckled, "I've been there." She sat up, and offered her hand to Paige. "Come. I'll make a something to eat."

"I have a better idea," Paige said as she took Piper's hand. Before Piper had a chance to inquire what Paige was talking about, she was disappearing in a swarm of orbs.

They reappeared in the library the magic school. Piper looked at Paige in surprised. "Why did you bring us here?"

Paige shrugged her shoulders. "I just figured the best way for Wyatt to learn is to practice and there is no better place to practice than a magic school infested with easily demons.

Piper snorted, "Demon hunting is a step up from scoping the place out."

"It is the next step. So, let's go teach him how to follow through."

Piper hesitated for a moment before throwing her hands in the air in defeat, "What the hell. Let's find the boys and go hunting."

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

The sun was just beginning to set when Phoebe arrived at the manor. Her Mini Coop was loaded to the roof with shopping bags. Her day had been spent running all over San Francisco fulfilling the five-page list Piper had given her.

She stood next to her car and cringed at the sheer number of items stuffed into the small vehicle. There was everything from camping cots and blankets, to enough food to feed a small army. Phoebe didn't even know what to think about the dent her shopping trip had made in Piper's house fund. Though she did have to chuckle at her sister's tenacious attitude toward preparing for the arrival of the Scoobies.

She walked into the Manor with as much as her arms could carry, hollering for help before she had even crossed the threshold. She deposited the bags onto the dining room table, and then yelled again. When she once again received silence, she glanced around the house to make sure nobody was lying on the floor dead.

She quickly made it through the entire house, and when she was satisfied that nobody had been killed during her excursion, she headed back to her car. When her family did return she would give them a good scolding for not being home to help her when they returned. Until then, she had a car full of perishable food to bring in.

The countless over flowing trips from the car to the house was tiring. She barely deposited the last of the cots next to love seat before she collapsed onto the inviting piece of furniture. It was only moments later that she heard the telltale signs of a whitelighter entering the house. She huffed lightly, annoyed that they couldn't have arrived half an hour earlier. That annoyance quickly faded away as she peeked over the back of the loveseat. Piper, Leo, Paige, and Wyatt all stood beneath the chandelier in the foyer covered head to toe in green and orange goop.

Phoebe tried to contain her laughter, but the sight before her was too amusing. Piper and Paige didn't seem too pleased with her amusement, because they each scooped dome goop off themselves and tossed it at her. Phoebe ducked as she yelled "I'm sorry," through heavy giggles.

Phoebe hesitantly peeked back over the back of the couch. "Truce," she chuckled. She stood up, and carefully walked toward them. "I'm sorry, but you look ridiculous. What are you covered in?"

"Chameleons," Paige stated lightly.

Leo pulled at his shirt and said, "Slime demon."

"I don't care what it was. I just want it off," Piper declared.

"Me too," Wyatt said as he pulled goop off his ear in disgust.

"Me too buddy," Paige said sympathetically, and then disappeared into a cloud of orbs.

"She better not orbed upstairs," Piper warned. She looked down at her son. "Come on buddy. I'll give you a bath while your daddy showers in our room."

"No," Leo said. "You go ahead and take a shower. I'll give Wyatt a bath."

Phoebe let out a hearty laugh as the family disappeared, and then turned to start putting away the food she had let sitting.

An hour later, Piper and Phoebe were still struggling to find homes for all the food Phoebe had purchased. Paige had yet to return from her shower, and Leo and Wyatt had disappeared into the living room to watch some TV.

"There," Piper suddenly yelled triumphantly. "It all fits."

Phoebe peeked over Piper's shoulder and laughed at the sight. Gone was Piper's normally organized pantry, replace with sideways boxes, towering cans, and bags of onions, potatoes, and nuts stuffed into any open space. "Have fun getting anything out of there without causing an avalanche," she chortled.

"Oh hush," Piper said and shooed her away. She carefully closed the door, afraid that Phoebe might have jinxed her.

"So, what's for dinner?" Phoebe asked teasingly. A playful smiled tugged at her lips.

An annoyed look crossed Piper's face. "How does Chinese sound?"

Phoebe laughed again, which brought a smile to Piper's lips. She reached for the phone and said, "My treat."

As Phoebe placed their order, Piper's attention was drawn to cloud of orbs appearing next to her. A few seconds later Paige appeared wearing a sheepish look.

"And where have you been?" Piper asked.

"With Billie," Paige announced. "She got into a bit of a scuffle with two upper-level demons in a bar."

"How is Miss Billie? Piper asked evenly. There were still hurt feeling regarding Billie's betrayal, but she wished no ill will towards the young woman. After all, she would have done the same thing if their situations were reversed. Her sisters were her life, right along-side Leo and their sons.

Paige shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, considering who she's picking fights with."

Phoebe returned the phone to its holder. "Should we be worried?"

"Not yet," Paige stated. "She promised she was just there to play poker with a friend of hers. A demon that goes by the name of Clem."

"She's hanging with demons now?" Phoebe asked. "How has she even had the time to make demon friends?"

"I don't know how she met the guy, but he seems nice enough. If he didn't have a nasty skin condition, you probably would know he is a demon."

"How many times has she called you?" Piper asked.

"This is the first time she called, but I have gone to her once before because she was sending out major distress signals."

"I made it clear that there is still room in our lives for her, but I think it might take a little while before she come home. It's only been a few weeks since the fight, if you could call it that. She's in a lot of pain. I don't think I would be able to live with myself if I had to vanquish one of you, even if you became the queen of the underworld."

"Hey! I thought we agreed to never discuss that," Phoebe chastened.

Piper smirked. "You agreed. We decided to keep it in our back pocket to wield as we see fit."

"Alright. I see how it is. Just remember that I have plenty to wield against you as well." Phoebe then proceeded to cough "Fury" and "Vampire" at them.

"I wonder which one of us has turned evil the most?" Paige pondered allowed.

"The fact that we have to stop and think about it, just shows how crazy our lives have been," Phoebe said.

Piper snorted, and then turned back to Paige. "Are you sure Billie is okay? Do you know where she is staying? Is she eating okay?"

It was Phoebe's turn to snort. "Always the mother hen, Piper. Even in the face of betrayal."

Piper shrugged her shoulders, "I won't lie and say I'm over what Billie did. It hurts that we let her into our lives. We trusted her enough to give her a home, access to our family's heritage, time to play with my sons. We gave her all the knowledge she need to destroy us, and she used it against us. That hurts like hell, but Paige is right. I probably would have done the same to her if the roles were reversed. Hell, we have done worse. We were overtaken with evil when Prue married that warlock, and we shattered Leo into a million pieces."

"Yeah, but that was a spell," Phoebe argued softly.

"Was it though? I mean I know that it was a spell that triggered it, but it was our bond as sisters that allowed the spell to extend to us, and the book. If Prue had gone evil when we first got our powers, there is a part of me that could have been persuaded to do whatever she asked. I would have held onto her every word."

"But you didn't, and in the end the good in Billie saw the bad in Kristy. She was able to see that Kristy was the bad guys not us, and she did the right thing. She killed her own sister to save us."

"Which is why she will always have a place in my home, and it is that very reason that I worry more about Billie now than before."

"Billie needs to figure out who she is outside of us and her sister. She needs to find her own path in life, and we need to give her the chance to do that. If we start becoming copter-witches, she will never find that path."

Leo walked into the kitchen looking sleepy, but happy. "Spoken like a true whitelighter."

"See," Paige stated as she gestured towards Leo. "At least somebody appreciates my whitelighter skills."

"Awe honey," Phoebe cooed. "Your whitelighter skills are amazing."

Paige threw her hands up and pointed to the ceiling. "Tell them that!"

"Tell who honey. The dust mites that live in the lights?" Phoebe joked.

Piper looked horrified. "Hey! There are no dust mites living in the lights. I cleaned them last week."

Phoebe and Paige smiled fondly at their sister.

"I was talking about the elders and their need to assign another whitelighter to our family," Paige grumbled.

"You should tell them," Piper said.

"Piper, she can't just orb up there and complain to them," Leo chided.

"Why not? They keep messing in our lives, and I'm tired of it. They come down here with cryptic messages, promises of rewards, sending off on new destines without even discussing. I sure as hell don't want a new whitelighter. We already have one, and you make a damn fine whitelighter. Go be a pain in their ass. God knows they've been a royal pain in ours."

"Geez Piper, tell us how you really feel," Phoebe teased.

"She's right though," Paige affirmed. "They shouldn't be able to change our lives without consulting us first. I'm going to give them a piece of mind." She smiled at them. "I can do that now."

Phoebe laughed as Paige orbed away. "They are going to regret giving her access to the heavens."

Leo agreed with Phoebe. "She challenges them though. Which is a good thing. They need to be reminded that their charges are more than just witches and future whitelighters."

"Do you miss it Leo?" Phoebe asked.

"I miss being able to protect my family, but the day-to-day whitelighter politics isn't missed one bit. I will be happy once we have the magic school cleaned up and running again. I may not have powers, but I do have an abundance amount of knowledge to teach the next generation of witches."

Piper snorted, "Ya think? You're a walking Book of Shadows."

A knock on the door interrupted their discussion. "Food's here," Phoebe beamed in delight. It had been a long day, and all she wanted was food!

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Paige orbed into the heavens with determination written in her eyes. It was quiet in the entrance hall, as it usually was. There were a few whitelighters mulling around in their robes, chatting quietly. Every now and again a whitelighter would orb in, casting a glow around the white space.

Orbing into the heaven was still new for her. It was different then when she orbed on Earth. There was a calming effect caused by being there. Like no matter what happened, she would be alright. It calmed her raging mind, and dimmed her determination slightly, but only just. She was a very stubborn and passionate woman. It would take much more than a calming element to steer her away from her goal.

Navigating through the compound was still a little weird for her. The rooms and halls regularly changed, a feature added after the Titan attack. The Council of Elders wanted to make it harder for evil to gain their goals, should they manage to gain access.

A spell was added that leads a whitelighter to their destination. All Paige had to do was think of where she wanted to go and allow herself to be swayed in that direction. The feeling was a little daunting. It felt like there was an invisible string guiding her left, or right. It was a feeling that she wasn't too happy to feel.

It only took Paige a few minutes to travel through the vast hallways to the Elder's hall. The only time she had been in the Elder's hall was when she was officially welcomed into the whitelighter's fold. That was the day after they defeated Kristy and the Triad.

The Elder hall was like the rest of the compound. The floors and pillars around the room were all that made up the hall. Where the walls and ceiling should be, was white vastness. She wondered if there were walls there, or if she would fall off the edge if she kept walking.

There was a dozen or so elders sitting around the large u-shaped table. Many of the table's seats were left empty. The last time she had been in the hall, all forty-five seats had been filled.

Tammy was amongst the present Elders, and happened to be the first one to notice Paige's presence. "Welcome Paige," she said kindly. She gestured for Paige to come closer. "What can we do for you?"

Paige gracefully strolled across the wide hall. She wore a look of determination on her face, allowing the Elders to see that she was serious. She stopped when she stood in the center of the u-shaped table. Very clearly and calmly she addressed the elders. All of whom were looking at her in interest. After all, they were still adjusting to seeing a Charmed One amongst them.

"You can tell me what your plans for my sisters and I are." Her voice was clear, determined, and left no room for them to deny her request.

A few of the Elders raised their eyebrows in shock at her show of brevity, while others lowered their eyebrows at her audacious attitude. Quite a few were smirking at Paige in amusement, but it was a single elder's reaction that was the most shocking. An elderly man, with a long white beard, sitting to the left of Tammy threw his head back and let out a boisterous laugh. His laugh was deep and shook his whole body. For a second, Paige wondered if her had been Santa Claus during his human life.

In seconds, the laughing elder gained confused stares from everybody present. Not that he noticed or cared. His gaze was firmly on Paige as his boisterous laughter died into chuckles. "Come Paige," he said. He patted the empty chair next to him. "Sit, and can discuss your future."

Paige smiled at the man, before orbing into the indicated seat.

The man smiled at Paige politely. "My name is Giorgio. Now...Tell me what you would like to know."

Paige faltered; momentarily forgetting why she had ventured into the heavens. She had not been expecting it to be that easy. "Well, I'd like to know why are assigning a new whitelighter for my family?"

"Ah yes," Giorgio hummed. "I thought there might be an inquiry about this at some point. I can assure you, my dear, it has nothing to do with your abilities. You have proven to be a stellar whitelighter as of late, and it is because of this, that we are expanding your duties. Raising and protecting the next generation of Charmed witches is important, but we feel there are many more people whom you can help."

He spoke with such compassion that there was little room to doubt the words he was saying were true. He smiled at her and chuckled, "Besides, your life is about to get very hectic. Having another whitelighter around can only aid in the defense of your family."

"Yeah, about that. Who are these people, and how do my sisters and I fit in?

Giorgio chuckled, "Now my dear, what fun would it be if I gave you all the answers?"

"Lots of fun. We like knowing what is coming. We like to plan for things."

"Something tells me you wouldn't believe me if I told you," Giorgio said, and then smiled softly. "I understand how frustrating this must feel. Once again your lives are being turned upside down by invisible forces and magical being that live in the sky."

"It is frustrating," Paige agreed. "I think my sisters and I deserver some straight forward answers, instead of all these cryptic messages."

"Okay then," Giorgio said with a slight nod. "I can tell you that these people are just like you. They are saviors who have sacrificed everything for the greater good, and now they are looking for a fresh start. They want to be able to settle down and live their lives as normally as they can, while they train the next generation."

"And they are heading straight for us. Why?"

"That my dear, I cannot tell you," Giorgio stated. "It is not my story to tell, and as I have already said, you wouldn't believe me."

"Fair enough," Paige said. "You may not be able to tell me why they are coming, but I'm sure you tell me what you hope to gain from it."

Giorgio simply smiled at Paige. "Power my dear. There is a great threat coming, and it is going to take every ounce of power we have to defeat it."

Anger rose inside of Paige. She turned to Tammy, "You told us our Charmed destiny has been fulfilled."

"And it has been. This threat isn't one that you will fight. At least not alone. We have felt the disturbance for quite a while. A great evil is collecting more and more power, and when it finally does reveal itself to us, your children will need every advantage we can give them."

"Great. My future children have the fate of the world on their shoulders, and they haven't even been conceived yet," Paige joked.

"I assure you, we are doing everything in our power to give them the very best chance. Starting with assigning you a second whitelighter."

"Do I at least get a say in who you are assigning?" Paige asked hopeful.

"I'm afraid not. We have been training a special whitelighter specifically for your family," Giorgio assured her.

"Can I at least meet this whitelighter?" Paige asked.

"I don't see why not," Giorgio said, and then stood up. "She's in class at the moment, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind skipping."

"There is whitelighter school?" Paige deadpanned as she followed the elder out of the hall.

"Yes. How did you think whitelighters were train?"

"I don't know. I never really gave it much thought," Paige replied. "Why haven't I gone to whitelighter school?"

"There has been little need for you to go through the training. You're Charmed destiny has always taken priority, which has served as an excellent in-the-field and academic training for your whitelighter duties. Much better than we can offer. Besides, something tells me you would ignore everything you are taught in lieu of doing it 'The Charmed Way'."

"The Charmed Way?" she questioned.

Giorgio chuckled. "It's a term a few of us use when you ladies go and do something that we do not approve of."

"I feel like I should be offended by that."

"On the contrary, my dear," Giorgio said. "I think it's the reason you have been so successful is your ability to approach any situation with a unique technique."

"It has also gotten us into a lot of trouble at times," Paige stated.

"Yes, it has. Mistakes happen, but what you do when you make that mistake is what matters. I see a strong woman, a strong witch, and a strong whitelighter in you, and it is the paths that we take that made you that strong. Perfection is just a word. An idea that mortals strive to achieve, and never do. Though I suppose you have already learned that lesson on your own."

Giorgio stopped walking and turned to face Paige. "I have been watching you since the day your sisters found you. I have watched as you struggled to find your place in this world. You went from an only child without a magical destiny, to having two magical sisters mourning the death of a third. I believe if you look up the definition of identity crisis, you'll find a photo of yourself."

Paige snorted.

"My point is that you spent so much of your time trying to live up to a memory, both of your life before your sister and the memory of Prue, that you struggled to find your new place in the world, and when you have gotten a foothold, you have second guessed yourself. Even now, you are still questioning whether we are assigning a new whitelighter because we don't trust in you."

Paige licked her lips and then nodded her head shyly.

"Trust in yourself, Paige. You are stronger than you believe."

"When did this turn in to a therapy session?"

"When you orbed into the heavens with determination in your attitude, and doubt in your heart," Giorgio stated.

"I don't have doubt in my heart," Paige denied.

"I'm an empath Paige," Giorgio admitted.

Paige's bravity deflated slightly.

Giorgio placed his hand on Paige's shoulder. "I have faith in you, and if you ever need anything, feel free to come talk to me. My door is always open."

"Ya know, you're kinda cool for an Elder," Paige joked.

"I feel like I should be offended," Giorgio smirked playfully.

Paige just smiled.

"Come," Giorgio commanded, and then began walking again. "Class should be over by now. She been eager to meet you."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The sun had sunk beneath the horizon, allowing the manor to be cast in a blue glow of the full moon. Paige and Phoebe had long since returned to their own homes, leaving Piper along with her family, all of whom were tucked safely in their beds. She sat in the conservatory holding a picture in her hand, with only the moonlight illuminating the room.

Talking with Paige today about making sure Wyatt was prepared for the dangers this world would bring, brought up old wounds that she was sure never would heal. She never really had a chance to properly mourn Prue's death. Paige came into their lives so quickly after her death, then there was the endless string of demons that they were tasked with vanquishing, and the start of her new family. Now she sat staring at the picture that was snapped just days before her death, wondering what their lives would be like if she had been able to save her that day.

Piper jumped slightly as blue orbs formed next to her, quickly revealing her eldest son. She smiled down at him. "You're supposed to be in bed young man."

"I couldn't sleep," Wyatt told her.

"Why not?"

"Because you're hurt," he said sadly.

"You think I'm hurt?"

Wyatt put his hand on Piper's chest. "Here."

Sadness seeped into Piper's features. She gently set Prue's picture on her lap and gently wrapped Wyatt's small hand in her own. "You can feel that?"

"It calls to me," he replied.

"It calls to your whitelighter side?"

He nodded his head. "Like Daddy called to me when he was missing? I couldn't find him though."

"Oh honey. Daddy's home safe and sound, and I'm okay. I'm not going anywhere."

"Your heart still calls to me." He picked up the picture in Piper's lap. "Tell me about Aunt Prue."

Piper smiled sadly at Wyatt, understanding what vibes she was sending off. "Your Aunt Prue was an amazing woman. She would have loved to meet you and Chris."

"She misses you," Wyatt said.

"I miss her too," Piper sighed.

"You'll see her soon," Wyatt said.

Piper looked down at Wyatt in confusion. Did he inherit Phoebe's gift of sight? She couldn't remember future Wyatt or Chris ever mentioning premonitions as one of Wyatt's powers. She supposed it was a possibility. The boys were tightlipped about the future, especially after they were able to save Wyatt from turning evil. After all, any little thing could alter the path they were on.

"How do you know that sweetie?"

"Because she told me, silly," Wyatt giggled, as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"You've seen your Aunt Prue?" Piper asked.

"Uh huh," Wyatt answered. "She told me not to tell though. She made me promise. I think she forgive me, cause she don't like to see you sad too. She told me so."

"How have you seen her?"

Wyatt stood up on the wicker loveseat and whispered, "I can't tell you that." He gave Piper a kiss on the cheek and then orbed up to his bed.

Piper stared into the spot where her son just stood in shock. Wyatt has seen Prue. She couldn't quite fathom that concept. She and Phoebe tried to summon Prue right after her death, but they weren't successful. Maybe Wyatt summoned her, like he had with Grams while she was pregnant with him. That would make more sense than Prue coming to Wyatt. After all, why would she come see her son without also see her?

It also frightened her. The last time Wyatt was secretively talking to somebody, it turned out her was talking to a demon who was trying to lure Wyatt to the dark side. There was always a possibility that a demon was after him again and using the face of her dead sister to gain his trust.

Piper looked down at the photo one last time, before standing up and placing the photo on the coffee table. If Wyatt was right, then she would have her answers soon. One of the worst parts of Prue being gone, was all the things in life she was missing out on; all the things that Piper wanted to share with her. Like her beautiful children. It was a wonderful thought, the possibility that he really has seen Prue, one that eased her aching heart.

She checked on Wyatt and Chris before heading into her bedroom. Leo was lying on his back, snoring away. At one point in their relationship, that sound was horribly annoying, but now it was music to her ears. She crawled into the bed and cuddled into Leo's side. She laid there enjoying the feel of Leo snuggled next to and allowed the symphony of snores to lure her to sleep.


	4. The Little Things

Faith was awoken by the most annoying sound in the world. Groaning she pulled the blanket up over her head and willed the banging to stop. Despite her inner wishing, the banging on her hotel room door continued. She peeked her head out from under the covers to look at the clock. She had only gotten to sleep two hours beforehand. "Who the fuck is knocking on my door at eight in the fucking morning," she yelled.

"Faith stop yelling and answer the damn door," Dawn grumbled from the second bed next to hers.

Faith rolled over and face the opposite bed. "Sorry D, I forgot you were in here," she grumbled. She slowly slid from the bed and made her way to the door. She stopped just before she opened the door when she heard Dawn squeak out, "Faith put some fucking clothing on." She turned around to reveal her naked front to Dawn, who covered her eyes.

She looked down at her nude body forgetting that she had stripped her clothing off before crawling into bed. She chuckled lightly, "What's wrong D, don't like the view?".

"Shut up, and put some clothing on. Then make that damn banging stop," Dawn said, and then pulled the covers up over her head.

Faith slipped a pair of jeans, and a tank top on, then answered the door. "Hey Xan-man. What's up?

"Is Dawn up yet?" Xander asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"Yeah, you woke us both up," she said with annoyance bleeding from her tone. She turned around and walked back to her bed, leaving the door open behind her.

"Sorry," he said as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind himself. "Willow sent me to get you two. She's taking us shopping and wants everybody ready to go in a half an hour."

"Ooh, Shopping," Dawn squealed, as she jumped from her bed and then ran to the bathroom, where her duffel bag was still laying.

"Damn Summers' girls," Faith said chuckling. "How is Willow taking us shopping when we don't have any money?" She asked.

"She managed to wrestle one of Deadboy's credit cards from him," Xander answered. He sat on the bed next to her. "We're leaving for San Fran first thing tomorrow morning, so Willow and Buffy wanted to get something for the trip."

"Which means clothing," Faith chuckled lightly.

"Yeah," Xander chuckled.

"Have they decided where we are staying once we get there?"

"Yes, but it's not the most ideal situation. There's a property on the outskirts of town owned by Wolfram and Hart. It's not much, just a small camper on and a couple acres of land, but there's a full bathroom and running water and best of all it's free."

"So, we're leaving this rad hotel for the joys of camping," Faith snarked.

"You could always stay, Faith. I'm sure Deadboy would love having a slayer around, especially one that he's already taken under his wing."

Faith looked around. "Nah. This isn't where I'm meant to be. Wherever B and Red set up shop, is where I supposed to be. Need to make sure none of the girls turn out like me."

Xander watched Faith closely. There was something different about her now. She still put up that strong, don't give a damn about the shit persona, but there was a tenderness that seemed to lay just beneath the surface.

"So, camping with a bunch of misfits is your calling," he joked.

Faith laughed. "It sounds better than squatting in an empty hotel with only my inner demons for friends."

A pregnant pause filled the room. Xander coughed lightly as her gain the courage to do what he had come to do. "Faith," he said quietly, and then coughed again. Louder than before he began, "I want to apologize for what happened between us in Sunnydale. So, much shit went down."

Faith looked at him like he was crazy. "Xander, you have nothing to apologize for. If anyone should be apologizing it's me. I fucked everything up."

"You were just a kid, Faith."

Faith cut Xander off with a growl, as he pushed herself off the bed. She slammed her hand on the door and fought back the tears that threatened to escape. "I stopped being a kid long before I showed up in Sunnydale. You don't owe me shit, Xander. I screwed everything up all on my own, and there ain't enough I can do ta make it up to the rest of you.

"You've already started to, Faith." Xander tentatively stepped towards Faith, and gently lay his hand on her shoulder. "You weren't the only one to blame for what happened back then. We all played a part, and I am sorry for my role. Just remember that you're not the same person you were, so don't be too hard on yourself."

She laughed and hastily wiped away the tears that had escaped. She turned toward him. "The same could be said to you."

"Touché," Xander said.

"How's Robin doing?" Faith asked changing the subject.

"He's doing better. He's leaving tonight for New York City, so you can stop hiding in your room every time he's in the common areas."

"Busted," Faith said.

"Yeah, well it's his loss. Though I never really thought of you as the kind of girl who hides."

"I haven't been hiding," Faith declared. "I've just been spending a lot of time with Dawn. It just happens to be at the same time he is downstairs."

"In all seriousness though, how are you doing?" Xander said.

"Five-by-five," she said, at the same time Dawn walked back into the room.

"What the hell does that even mean, Faith?" Dawn asked.

Faith just shrugged her shoulders. "It means I'm good. Look, it wasn't like we were even really a thing. We fucked once, then agreed to chill after we save the world. It's not a big deal he can't deal with my age."

"Still it is kinda messed up," Xander said, and then looked at his watch. "I've gotta go. We're leaving in twenty." He shook his head slightly and walk to the door. Just as he reached the door, he paused. While still facing the door, he said, "At some point you'll have to let us in Faith. Things don't have to be like they were before. We can do better."

"He's right, you know," Dawn said, from the bathroom doorway.

Faith lowered her head onto her hands and sighed heavily. Being around the Scoobies were bring up too many feelings, far too quickly. She didn't have enough time to process one thing, before somebody else was there forcing something else out of her. "That's easier said than done, Dawn."

Dawn rolled her eyes as she walked across the room. She plopped on the bed. "Ooooo, full name. Somebody is getting serious."

Faith sat up and glare at Dawn.

"You keep glaring," she said with a smile. "Your glare works about as well as Buffy's."

Faith stare at her for a moment before smirking. "I put B's glare to shame."

"You keep thinking that." Dawn stood up and move towards the door. "Come on. The others are probably waiting for us."

"I'm gonna pass on the shopping trip," Faith said.

"Are you sure Faith?" asked Dawn, sounding disappointed.

"Yeah, I'm sure. See ya later," she said.

"Ok, bye, Faith," Dawn said.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"How about this one?" Willow turned to face Kennedy. In her hands was a long black V-neck dress.

Kennedy bit her lip. "I think you would look amazing in that, but it's not really you baby"

Willow looked at the dress, and then huffed a little as she placed the dress back on the rack.

Kennedy watched Willow as she rummaged through the rack of fancy dresses. She was concerned with her girlfriend's nervousness. Not so much because of anything Willow was doing, but rather for her if her family wants nothing to do with her.

She had felt the pain of rejection when she sought out her mother's family. Her mother had died when Kennedy was just a baby. When she was fifteen she had contacted her mother's parents. She just wanted to get to know them, but they turned her away. Just as they turned her mother away when she married Kennedy's father. Apparently marrying the American-born son of Mexican immigrants didn't sit well with them.

Willow meant the world to Kennedy, and the last thing she wanted was for her to get hurt. But Willow already knew her fears. They had spent hours talking about how nervous Willow was, and her own experiences on the subject.

Unfortunately, she never got a chance to talk to Will about something, and now she wasn't sure how to approach the subject with her. It's not as though it was anything bad. she just didn't want to leave Willow at that moment. Not when Willow was about to have a major life changing moment.

Kennedy walked up behind Willow, who was still rummaging through the racks of dresses. She wrapped her arms around Willows waist and dropped a kiss on her shoulder.

"You don't have to wear something fancy baby. Pick something you would wear to school or a party. Just be yourself."

"I just want them to like me," Willow said.

"You're amazing," Kennedy said. She turned Willow to face her, and then looked forcefully into her beautiful green eyes. "You. Are. Amazing. Absolutely amazing, just the way you are. If they don't want to know you, then what you wear isn't going to matter. What will matter is you showing them who you are. Anyone who even gets a glimpse of the person you are, can't resist getting to know you."

Willow smile softly. "You have a way with words, Ms. Gilbert."

Kennedy smirked. "It helps when I have a beautiful woman to speak those words to."

Willow smiled widely, and then leaned in to place a chaste kiss on Kennedy's lips. "So, what do you think I should wear?"

"How about a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Something that makes you look nice but doesn't scream trying too hard. Something that screams Willow."

"You make it sound so simple, and yet so complicated," Willow said sounding defeated.

Kennedy chuckled lightly. "It's not baby. Here, I'll show you." She pulled Willow over to the pants section. She spent a few minutes rummaging through the racks. She handed three pairs of pants to Willow, before moving onto the shirts.

While Kennedy searched through the racks of shirts, Willow inspected the pants she was handed. There was a plain pair of blue jeans, a pair of black slacks, and a pair of soft brown jean like pants. All three were her size and like pairs she had worn in Sunnydale.

Kennedy returned with a handful of shirts. There was a baby blue V-neck extending down to modestly show off her cleavage, a red t-shirt, and two button-up dress shirts, one short sleeve, and the other long.

"These are perfect," Willow said. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me baby," Kennedy said. "We should get you some skirts too."

Willow liked that idea, so they made their way over to the skirt section, passing Buffy and Dawn who were arguing over a top as they went.

It was then that Kennedy decided to approach the subject she had been hesitant to discuss. "Willow," she said hesitantly. "There's something I need to talk to you about."

Willow's hand halted over a frilly blue skirt, and looked up at Kennedy. "Is this about the mysterious phone calls you've been making?"

"Yeah," she replied. She nibbled on her bottom lip. "I talked to my dad. My abuela got sick a few months ago and hasn't recovered. Papi thinks she doesn't have much fight left in her. He wants me to come home and see her before it's too late. We were close before I left to help save the world. I'd really like to see her. I just don't want to leave you right now. I want to be here for you."

"Awe sweetie," Willow said as she made her way around the rack to Kennedy's side. "I wish you would have talked to me. You didn't have to keep this inside. I'm here for you not matter what."

"You've just been going through so much worrying about all of us slayers, and getting ready to meet your birth mother. I didn't want to add this on top of everything else until it was necessary."

"Baby. I'm sorry if I've been monopolizing our time together. I care about you so much."

"I know you do. I care about you too."

Willow kissed Kennedy tenderly. "When do you plan on leaving?"

"When you head to San Francisco," Kennedy replied. "I want to spend as much time with you as I can before I have to go."

"Well than. We will have to make the most of our time together than," Willow said deviously.

Kennedy smirked slyly. "And what do you have in mind?"

Willow looked around the store to see if anybody was paying attention to them. Satisfied that everybody's attention was elsewhere, Willow grabbed a random shirt off the rack and smirked devilishly at her girlfriend. "How about we start with me trying this on, and you telling me what to think."

The playful look adorning Kennedy's face dropped into a look of surprise. She glanced at the dressing rooms, then back to Willow. "This is a new side of you," she said a little unsurely.

Willow shrugged her shoulders as she smiled shyly at Kennedy. "I thought I'd give it a try." Her shy smile dropped into an adorable pout. "Why? Am I doing it wrong? Do you not like it?"

Kennedy snorted. "You know you're the only woman I have ever met, that can go from sexy to adorable in two point five seconds."

A smile formed on Willow's lips. "You think I'm adorable?"

"Absolutely," Kennedy gushed dramatically. A light slap on the shoulder calmed her theatrics. "So. Are you really okay with me going to New York?"

"Yes sweetie. I would never forgive myself if you weren't there for your family. I will miss you like crazy though."

"Have I told you how lucky I am to have you in my life?"

"Oh, not in about an hour or so," Willow giggled. "Come on. Let's go make sure Buffy and Dawn leave some clothing for the rest of us."

They glanced across the department to the still feuding siblings, although the object they were arguing over had changed. Instead of fighting over shirt, they were now fighting over a mini-skirt.

"Or we can go stop them before we have a full-on slayer cat fight on our hands," Kennedy countered.

"Yeah. That sounds like a good idea," Willow agreed adamantly.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Faith had never felt so much intensity in her life. Her jaw was tense, her hands were sore from gripping so hard, for so long, and her heart was racing. She was so close. So close, and then nothing. "Fuck!" She yelled as she tossed the PlayStation controller she was holding.

"Boo ya!" Dawn said from the beanbag chair next to Faith's.

"That's the fifth race you won," Faith whined.

"Just face it Fai, you suck at video games," Dawn teased.

"Hey, what'd ya expect? I've been locked up for three years. Wasn't much time to hone my skills while behind bars."

"Okay. I'll give you that, but I know for fact that you had a PlayStation while you worked for The Mayor."

"And how do you know that?" Faith asked.

"Because Xander stole the one out of your place for me. That's how I got so good."

Faith's jaw dropped slightly. "That is cruel."

"Hey, you said it yourself. There wasn't much time for you to use it while stuck in jail."

Faith threw her hands up in defense. "You're right. You are pretty kickass at this game though."

"Thanks. Want to play a different game?" Dawn asked.

"No. I have a better idea," Faith replied. "Want to go hunting?"

"Buffy doesn't want me to hunt without her or Willow with me," Dawn replied.

"We can get B's permission before we leave," Faith said.

Dawn's eye's lit up. "Hell yeah. I've been dying to go out for days, but Buffy's been busy getting ready for the trip and Willow is still recharging from the big Slayer Spell. Though, I think she's just using that as an excuse to have lots of sex with Kennedy."

Faith snorted, "I think you nailed that one."

Dawn snorted at Faith's joke, and then slapped her lightly. "Come on," she said as she wiggled her way out of the beanbag chair. "I'll go ask Buffy if it's okay."

Faith grabbed Dawn's hand as she tried to pass. "No," she said. "I'll go."

Dawn looked down at Faith unsurely. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," She said, then exited her beanbag chair with grace. "Might as well. We'll have a better chance of her saying yes, if I'm the one who's asking."

"Okay. I'll go raid Angel's weapons cabinet. Anything in particular you want?"

"No. I'm going to get the Slayer's Scythe from B. Haven't had a proper chance to play with it yet," Faith replied. "I meet ya in the lobby."

Faith followed her slayer senses all the way to the hotel's dining hall, which had become slayer central since arriving in Las Angeles. Willow, Buffy, and Xander were all sitting at the farthest table with stacks of folders siting in front of them. They were chatting quietly, which seemed to cease as she approached the table.

Willow looked up at Faith first, giving her a big smile. Willow was the only Scooby who didn't make her batshit crazy to be around. Yes, she could fry her in a second, but Willow knew what it was like for her. She knew how hard it was being back in the fold. It was also comforting to have her near, because if she ever did start losing her shit again, Willow would have no problem taking her down.

"Hey Faith," Willow said chipperly. "We were just talking about you."

Well that explained their quiet tone, despite the room empty, sans their camping gear. She sat down in the chair opposite Buffy's. "What's up."

"You haven't filled out your slayer packet yet," Willow said, and then handed her a folder. "You're the only one who needs to."

"Oh," Faith said. They'd been trying to get her to fill that thing out for over a week now, but she kept leaving it on the table without filling anything out. They didn't need to know anything about her life, not that there wasn't anything to tell. "I'll fill it out later. I'm on my way out."

"Where?" Buffy asked.

"Hunting," Faith said.

"Let me guess," Buffy said eyeing her closely. Too closely for Faith's comfort. "You want the scythe?"

"Yeah, if it's cool," Faith answered.

"It's your weapon too Faith. All you gotta do is say the word. I'll get it for you."

"I'll come with," Faith said. The entire walk to Buffy's room was spent in silence. Her heart was thumping hard in her chest, making her wish she was back in her room playing Crash Team Racing with Dawn. Buffy had the scythe sitting on the shelf in her closet, carefully wrapped in a blanket. She took it down and carefully handed the weapon to her. Faith instantly felt the power flowing from the scythe to her hands. It was like the second she touched the scythe, it became a part of her.

"It's an amazing feeling," Buffy said.

"Hell, yeah it is," Faith agreed. "Can't wait to play with this baby."

"Just don't play with it too hard," Buffy said.

Faith looked up at Buffy, gaging her body language. Buffy's tone was filled with concern, but Faith couldn't trust that her tone was true. There was still so much animosity between the two of them. Still so much hurt. "Don't worry B. I'm just take it out for a test drive."

"Even still," Buffy said. She gently touched Faith's hand, before quickly releasing it. "Do you want some company?"

"Actually," she said awkwardly said, as she shifted her weight uncomfortably. "I was hoping it'd be cool with you if Dawn came with."

An uncomfortable look crossed Buffy's face, but she quickly schooled her features, essentially hiding her discomfort from Faith. "You've been spending a lot of time with Dawn," she stated evenly.

"Yeah. Dawn's pretty cool," Faith said.

Buffy eyed Faith unabashed, letting Faith know that she didn't fully trust her. "Dawn's a big girl, but I swear Faith, if she gets hurt, I'll do more than put you in a coma."

Faith felt uncomfortable under Buffy glare. She knew full well that Buffy's threat wasn't idle. She remembered how it felt when Buffy stabbed her with her own knife. It wasn't the pain of the stab wound that hurt the most, or even the betrayal she felt know it was Buffy who did it.

No.

It was the pain when she realized that she had forced Buffy to do what she couldn't bring herself to do. It was the same feeling she had when Angel recognized the same intent in her and refused to rise to her challenge. She never wanted to force somebody into that position again.

"Don't worry B. If anything happens to Dawn on my watch, you won't get the chance. I'll take care of that all on my own."

A surprised look crossed Buffy's features. "Alright Faith. Dawn can go. Make sure you sign out and take one of Willow's GPS rock thingies."

"Thanks B," Faith said, and bolted from the room before Buffy could change her mind.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Piper was sitting in the conservatory, in the same position she had been the week before, when her eldest son Wyatt told her informed her that he had seen his deceased Aunt Prue. She had spent the entire week worrying over whether a demon was after her son again. Watching him to see if there were any signs of him talking to somebody invisible, or if he was acting differently. For the most part Wyatt was acting like the same happy little boy he's always been. Better even, considering he finally had his father back.

Still, she was concerned about the idea that her son was seeing Prue. At least, what it meant if it wasn't a demon after Wyatt, and he really did see Prue. Especially the part about her seeing Prue soon. If it really was Prue, then soon, she was going to be able to lay her eyes on her for the first time in years. That prospect excited Piper. However, Piper spent a good portion of her week trying to keep herself from get too excited.

Piper's thoughts were interrupted by Paige, who orbed into the room directly in front of her. Before Paige even had the chance to fully form, Piper asked, "Did you find out anything?"

"No," Paige said. "And could you let a girl finish orbing before you hound her with questions?"

"Sorry," Piper meekly replied.

"It's okay honey. Gorgio couldn't confirm whether Wyatt was seeing a demon or Prue, but he did say that Wyatt's room has recently be cloaked from them for a few minutes at a time."

"Great," Piper snarked.

"It'll be okay Piper. I'll set up another alarm system around the boys' room. That way if a demon show's up, you'll know."

"That didn't work out so well the last time you set that up," Piper stated skeptically.

"Hey. My system worked perfectly fine. The problem was your very powerful son setting off the alarm system because he wanted attention. I don't think you'll have to worry about that anymore."

"Chris has come into powers," Piper pointed out.

"True, but I think it will work out this time," Paige said confidently.

"If you say so, but if those alarms start going off in the middle of the night for no damn reason, I am magicking your ass over here to fix it."

"Fair enough," Paige agreed. "Is it cool if I stay here tonight? Henry's chasing one of his parolees down in San Diego and won't be back for a few days."

"Are you running away from your husband again?" Piper chuckled.

"No!" Paige exclaimed. "I wasn't running away from him before. I was simply having trouble adjusting to being the wife of a mortal man. It was weird, and I got over the weirdness."

"Yeah, thanks to Coop," Piper laughed.

"Can we not talk about that. I would rather not remember literally being stuck in Henry's mind." Paige shuddered. She had gone through a lot since learning she was a witch, but that was the weirdest experience of her life.

Piper laughed even louder.

"It is not that funny," Paige admonished.

"It kinda is," Piper laughed. "At least you were only a part of Henry's mind and didn't do a complete switcheroo like Leo and I were forced to do, or even worse accidentally turned into a man like we did to Prue."

"You turned Prue into a man?"

Piper snorted, "Yeah. A little over a year after we got our powers we cast a spell to lead us to a succubus, and it turned out turning her into a man."

Paige chuckled. "Talk about a spell needing a warning label."

"Tell me about. Phoebe and I tried not to laugh at her, but she refused to come out of the bathroom, and when she did she was ranting about wearing clothing from the ex-boyfriend pile and standing up to pee. We couldn't hold it in. It was only when that quack Leo made us see switched our bodies, that I gained an understanding for what she went through."

"Yes well, just being inside of Henry's mind was enough for me. I want to be close to my husband but no that damn close."

"Amen sister," Piper said.

"Speaking of sisters, where is Phoebe? I haven't seen her since the night we went to magic school."

"Holed up in her apartment writing enough columns so that Elise will let her have a few weeks off to help with the Scoobies," Piper replied.

"Are you ready for this?" Paige asked.

"I'm ready to find out who these people are and how we are connected to their destinies, but not so much with demons of it all. I know that realistically we could never really be rid of demons, but I was hoping for a nice light retirement. You know, the kind where we only have to fight when we want to, or because we're teaching our kids."

"I'm excited," Paige announced.

"Of course you are, Paige. You are just beginning your career, and you should be excited. Don't let me bring you down.

"Oh, I won't, but I am worried about you. I know you have the club and the boys, but you really should find yourself a hobby."

"A hobby?" Piper asked.

"Well yeah. You know… something to fill the void that demon hunting used to fill. I mean the last time we tried to quit, you were arrested for murder and went a crazy over Wyatt's costume and that lady at hi preschool."

"Jenny got arrested, not me, and a demon really was possessing another mother to get to Wyatt. So, don't you start with me Miss 'I had this horrible ringing and just had to go to a witch to save her even though we were supposed to be hiding from the magical world'."

"Alright. Point taken. Neither one of us are good at staying idle."

"Actually, I do have a project I'm thinking about working on."

"That's good. What is it?" Paige asked.

"I'm thinking about expanding P3. There is a building just across the street for sale. It would be the perfect place to open the restaurant I've always dream of."

"That's great Piper," Paige said. "I think that is an excellent project."

"Before I even consider doing this, I have to talk to Leo first. A restaurant is a lot different than the club, and with the constant changing of destinies nothing is for certain until it happens."

"Ain't that the truth," Paige agreed.

"Well, since you're staying for a few days, you can help make dinner," Piper said, with a big grin on her face, which caused Paige to smile back.

Chris chose that moment to orb into his mother's arms, surprising both sisters. It was still a little shocking when the youngest Halliwell used his powers. He cuddled into her arms, resting his head on her chest, and closed his eyes.

"At least baby Chris is simple," Paige said. She swiped a lock of his hair out of his eyes. "Unlike his adult future self."

"Well hopefully he'll be less complicated in the future now that we've taken care of his Wyatt complex. They seemed really close when they were here a few weeks ago."

"Yeah they did. As close as we are," Paige agreed. She looked at Wyatt, who was still playing on the floor, unaware that his baby brother was no longer with him. "He's gotten so big. It's hard to believe he's three already."

Piper looked at Paige fondly. "It's hard to believe any of this is real sometimes. When Phoebe, Prue, and I went to the future, I had one child, a little girl, and Prue was alive and very blonde. Now I have two little boys instead of having one little girl, and the sister I am sitting next to is not Prue, but who I am incredibly grateful to have in my life." Piper grabbed Paige's hand. "I am so happy to have you in our live Paige, and I nothing will every change that."

Paige squeezed Piper's hand. "I love you too, Piper."

Wyatt chose that moment to orb a ball into Paige's free hand and yell, "Come Auntie Pay!"

Paige looked at the wiffleball in her hand and chuckled," Okay, but remember that I have the same powers as you, so if you try and cheat, I'll get you."

Wyatt chuckled and then orbed from the room, with the bat in hand. His Auntie Pay followed his lead just a few seconds afterwards, leaving Piper alone with her youngest son. She looked down at the sleeping child and chuckled lightly, "Never would I have thought that this is how my life would be, but now that it is, I wouldn't trade it for the world." She placed a kiss on Chris's head, then closed her eyes as well. There was nothing better then cuddling with a sleeping baby, and she was going to enjoy every minute she could with him.


	5. Romance in the Cemetery

A loud thud echoed through the nearly empty cemetery, followed by a soft poof. Dawn, still heavily breathing from the fight, turned to Faith and gave her very best glare. "You could have helped, ya know. She almost bit me."

Faith was sitting on top of a large tombstone, wearing her patented smirk. "Yeah, I could have, but what good is it to you, if I'm always saving your cute ass?" Faith slipped from the tombstone and swayed over to Dawn. "You had her. Sure, you took a little while, but the vamps around here are a hell of a lot smarter than the vamps in Sunny-D. The old song and dance trick B taught you aren't always gonna work. You have to be quick on your feet, and ready for whatever the vamp does."

"You sound like a teacher, Faith," Dawn commented.

"Well I kinda am," Faith replied. She pulled the scythe from its holster on her back, a present from Xander, and held it out for Dawn. "Vamps are scarce around here, but I did notice a horde of demons heading into a bar a few blocks back. I can go fetch one, if you want to play, or I can go through some moves with you, get you a little less clumsy."

"Hey," Dawn yelled.

"What are you hey-ing me for? You're still a klutz. Own it. Use it, because it could be the thing that saves your life one day," Faith insisted.

"Like being evil saved yours?" Dawn stated her not so well-hidden question.

Faith glared at Dawn, unsure of how to respond.

"I've over heard the guys talking about what went down before you high tailed it to Los Angeles and fought with Angel. I also see how you are now. Can I tell you what I think?"

Faith's glare lessened. "I don't think I have much of a choice in this. Speak your peace, so we can get back to hunting," she growled, and then turned her back on Dawn. She moved back to the tombstone she had vacated and slid down to the ground.

Before Dawn started talking again, she moved to sit next to Faith. "You always have a choice Faith. Don't let anyone tell you differently." She laid the scythe over their laps, and gently took Faith's hand.

Faith looked down at their joined hands unsure of what she was feeling. She looked up at Dawn and shifted uncomfortably. "So, shoot. Why did my evilness save my life?"

"It was your shield. You got hurt, so you turned your pain into darkness. You did bad things to keep yourself from feeling the pain of killing Finch, and from being rejected from the group, and it was that darkness that led you to L.A. It was that darkness that led you to prison, which seems to have done wonders for you."

Faith thought about what Dawn said for a minute, all the while staring at their joined hands. She liked Dawn. She felt comfortable with the youngest Scooby, probably because she was the only one who hadn't been there to see the full wrath of Rogue Faith.

"You're right, about some of that, but not all," she whispered. She tightened her grip on Dawn's hand ever so slightly, just enough to feel the warm radiating from it, but not enough to hurt Dawn. "I was hurt, after I killed Finch. I didn't mean to do it, but I had, and that hurt. I tried to hide it the best I could. From myself, and everybody around me. I hated seeing Buffy all torn up like that, because it was a reflection of me. And then I saw an opening."

"What?" Dawn asked. She turned slightly to look at Faith, while still being able to keep their hands connected.

"Killing Finch gave me the perfect opportunity to infiltrate the Mayor's office. Once we learned he was a baddy, of course. B was all, 'you have to turn yourself in, we have to accept responsibility, you can't shut me out'. B gave me the perfect cover. So, I swallowed how badly I was hurting and made Buffy think I didn't give a damn. Buffy is a bit righteous at times. I knew she wouldn't let it go, so I played out the story my way. I went to Giles and told him that it was Buffy. I knew she had a thing for trying to save those who shouldn't be saved. And as I predicted, they captured me, and tried like hell to help me. I played them. Had Angel thinking at one point that he almost made a connection, which he did mind you, but I played it off like he was a fool. Wesley and the council goons busting in wasn't something I had counted on though. They almost blew the whole damn plan up, but in the end, they gave me an added push to convince Wilkins that I went rogue and needed his protection."

"I don't understand Faith," Dawn said.

"Yeah. I know," Faith replied. "Wilkins was good to me. He didn't treat me like I was expendable. He treated me like he really cared for me. At some point during my undercover gig, it stopped being a gig and started being real. I buried Finch's death so far down that I really didn't give a damn that I killed him. At least not on the surface. I feed into the badness, right up 'til I killed the professor. It hurt to do that. With Finch it was just an accident, but with Worth, it was completely different. He was an innocent person, whose only crime was having knowledge that could hurt Wilkins."

She paused and covered her face with her free hand, hiding the tears that had suddenly welled in her eyes. She felt Dawn tight her grip around their join hands, and then placed her free hand around the outside. It was a comforting action, on that she appreciated.

Unable to keep the emotions out of her voice, she continued, "Wilkins had given the order and I was eager to please him. I didn't care that I was going to take another human life. When the knife slide into his gut like he was butter, I looked at him in surprise, and he sputtered at me. I couldn't make out the words he was saying though. Blood seeped from the wound, down the knife to my hand, and I remember thinking how warm it was. Sadness filled me as I watched the life seep out of him, and then I got angry and stabbed him again. I went back to my place and Wilkins was there waiting for me with a present. He had bought me a dress for the graduation ceremony. I covered my emotions as best I could. I hid in the bathroom and pulled myself together until he called me out. It was then that I realized I was screwed. Wilkins treated me like a daughter. He was so kind and soft spoken to me. I liked the feelings he gave me when ever I was around. Like I was safe, and wanted, and could do anything. But I hated the feelings Worth's death left in me. It ripped the feelings I had been burying about Finch to the surface. I was torn between being who Wilkins' wanted me to be and returning to the light again. In the end I chose neither. Wilkins need Buffy out of the way, so I suggested we spike Angel with the poison Willkie had in his reservoir. As you know, the cure was the blood of a slayer. I knew Angel meant enough to Buffy for her to lose her sanctimonious morals on not killing humans just this once, and come after me, and I was right."

"She stabbed you with your own knife, but you fell of the roof," Dawn stated.

"I jumped," Faith said. "I didn't want Buffy to be the reason I was dead."

"But you're still alive," Dawn stated.

"Because I fell into the back of a truck, and he took me to the hospital. Wasn't really counting on that," Faith lamented.

"And then you tried the same plan again in LA with Angel," Dawn sighed.

"Yeah, didn't really work out that time either," Faith rebuked.

"Hey clearly you weren't meant to die, or it would have happened by now," Dawn chastened.

"Clearly. Doesn't make the pain stop," Faith mumbled.

"And it won't," Dawn said. She snuggled into Faith's side and rested her head on her shoulder. "I lost my mom and then I lost Buffy just a few weeks later. I blamed myself for their deaths. The only reason Mom got that brain tumor was because I existed, and the only reason Buffy died was to save me. I didn't stop blaming myself until just a few months ago. Now I know its not the same, but pain is pain. You just have to find your own way to lock it away and move on. Which you are obviously still struggling with."

Faith relaxed into Dawn's embrace. "The gang doesn't give you enough credit. You're hell of a lot smarter then they give ya credit for."

"I'm glad somebody sees it," Dawn exclaimed. She slowly moved her thumb across the back of Faith's hand. "Thank you for opening up to me. I know how hard that is for you."

Faith leaned her head against Dawn's and then sighed, "Thank you for listening to me."

"I think you should tell them what you told me. I think they would appreciate your story," Dawn suggested gently. "I think might help you heal."

Faith sighed heavily. "Yeah… Maybe." She paused and sighed again. "Just not tonight."

"No, definitely not tonight. You should do it when you are ready, and if you want me to be there when you talk to them, I will. All you gotta do is say the word."

After a pregnant pause, Faith quietly asked, "Do you want me to go wrangle you a demon?"

Dawn chuckled, "Is that a slayer's mating call? Bring me a demon to fight so I'll accept your courtship?"

Faith's heart skipped a beat. She wasn't sure if Dawn was joking or not, but she really liked the sound of it. Truthfully, she had been feeling… something for Dawn for a while. They had spent nearly every moment together for weeks. She hadn't spent that much time with her cellmate. There was something about Dawn that calmed her. She liked that feeling. She like how she was feeling with Dawn cuddled into her side. "If I say yes, can we skip the courtship and just kiss?"

"If I say yes, can I still get that demon?" Dawn asked.

Faith lifted her head and left out a deep, belly rumbling laugh. "Sure, but do you want the demon before or after that kiss?"

Dawn smiled as she unlinked her hands, so she could stand. At least that's what Faith's thought she was doing. That was until Dawn pushed the scythe off her lap and straddled her hip. "I think I'd like this kiss before you go collect me that demon," she whispered heavily. Dawn paused for a moment to make sure it was okay with Faith, before leaning forward and placing her lips on Faith's.

For the first time in years, Faith's mind was blank. The only thing that she could comprehend was how amazing Dawn's lips felt. It was like there was a breath of fire that raced through her body, warming her unlike anybody had. Faith was no stranger to sex, but she was a stranger to intimacy. She supposed this is how it felt when you actually cared for the person.

Dawn pulled away, far too quickly for Faith's liking, and whispered, "I've been wanting to do that since I saw you doing yoga in my backyard."

Faith opened her mouth to say something, but Dawn softly place her hand over her lips to silence her. "It's okay Fai. I get it. You don't have to say anything. At least not tonight."

Faith nodded her head, grateful for the time to think their kiss over. Not that she was sure she would ever be able to think properly again, but the chance to was nice. "So, about that demon."

Dawn smiled and leaped off Faith's lap, taking the scythe with you.

Faith stood up and unbuckled the straps of the scythe holder and then handed it to Dawn. "Slip it on and see how it fits."

Dawn took the leather straps and pulled them on. There was one strap that goes over one shoulder, and the a second that fastened the holder in place around the waist. The scythe magically clicked into the place just below the ax portion, thanks to Willow's magical addition. It can only be remove from the holder by a slayer. Dawn hadn't been gifted a holder yet, mostly because Buffy had only trusted Faith with the weapon on hunts.

Faith helped Dawn adjust the straps around her hips, as she talked. "It's too dangerous for us to go into the bar alone, so I am going to lure one out for you to play with. While I am luring one out, I want you to practice taking the scythe out of the holder and back in. It looks a lot easy than it really is."

Faith stepped back when she was certain that the holder was sitting on Dawn's body properly. "Go ahead, a give it a go."

Dawn reached her right hand over a shoulder and grabbed the handle behind the ax. The odd angle of her arm caused her to whack the handle off her head as she tried to swing the scythe over her head.

Faith tried to not laugh but the look Dawn got when it hit her head made that impossible. Dawn glared at Faith as she tried and failed to put the scythe back in its holder, which only managed to make Faith laugh more. Dawn paused when she realized that Faith was laughing at her. Faith, the rogue slayer. Faith, the only other person who broods more than Angel.

Faith continued laughing as she moved towards Dawn, who was standing completely still. She took the scythe from Dawn's hands and wrapped her arms around her, so she could replace the scythe. Her laughs died down into chuckles as she felt Dawn's left arm wrap around her waist. She heard the scythe click into place as she looked into Dawn's eyes.

Dawn placed her right hand on Faith's cheek, rubbing her thumb over her dimples. "You have the most beautiful laugh," she cooed, and then captured Faith's lips.

Faith moaned and then wrapped her right arm around Dawn's waist and pulled her closer. Unlike their previous kiss, Faith's thought process was at full power. She felt elated, and she want to share that feeling with Dawn. Unfortunately, their moment was cut short by a demon that managed to get painfully close.

Dawn was happily in bliss one second and in the next nothing with both Faith and the scythe missing. She opened her eyes just in time to watch Faith chop off the head of a blue demon with black marking over his head.

Faith backed up when the demon suddenly burst into flames. "Wow," she yelled. When the flames ceased, to moved forward to inspect what was left. "There's nothing left," she said in awe.

"Really?" Dawn asked and rushed to Faith's side to inspect the spot the demon was in. She felt the grass where he had been standing and ran her hands over the blades. "Some of the blades are singed, but other then that it's like he wasn't even there."

Faith kneeled beside Dawn and watched as she ran her hands over the blades. "I've never seen anything like that."

"Me either," Dawn said, and then plucked a few of the singed blades. She tucked them into her pocket and then stood up.

"I think we should probably head back to camp," Dawn said, as she scoped the perimeter for any sign of baddies.

"Yeah," Faith said as she rose. She took the scythe and snapped it into the holder. "There," she said. "You can take the scythe back to Buffy looking like a badass."

"I'm a klutz, not a badass," Dawn sighed.

"Yeah, you're a klutz, but that doesn't mean you can't be a badass too," Faith said. She smiled and threw her arm around Dawn's waist. "Come on, before another demon shows up and interrupts us, which we so aren't doing while on hunt no more."

"Second," Dawn agreed. "It's still early. We can play some Crash before bed."

Faith snorted, "What bedtime?"

"Still not sleeping long?" Dawn asked.

"I got few hours," Faith sighed. Dawn was the only person who knew about her nightmares. With them spending so much time together since they closed the hellmouth. She had always suffered from them, but they intensified after she was called to be the slayer. They had stopped for awhile after she was forced to see the shrink while in jail, but they started up again after her shared slayer dream with Buffy.

"Are you going to keep watch again tonight?" Dawn asked quietly.

"Yeah. Might as well put my issues to good use, ya know."

"I'm here if you ever want to talk about them," Dawn insisted.

"I know," Faith replied. "How about we drag the tv and PlayStation out of the camper and you can keep me company? You can kick my ass all night long if ya want."

"Hey. You totally kicked my ass yesterday," Dawn chuckled.

"For all of three races, and then you had me eating your dust for the rest of the day," Faith laughed.

"Can't help it if I'm better than you," Dawn teased.

"Oh yeah huh," Faith said with a cocky grin on her face. "You may be better at racing in Crash, but in real life I got all the game."

Without any warning, she took off through the cemetery, yelling as she went. "Last one to the drive way has to pull the TV out."

"Hey," Dawn yelled, and then took off after Faith. "No fair, you cheater."

Faith chuckled and waited until Dawn had just caught up with her before she began running with all her slayer speed. Dawn realized quickly what Faith had done and began running with everything she had in her, which was quite a lot when she had time to appreciate how fast she could run. Still, her increased speed just wasn't enough to catch Faith, who and managed to stay a few steps ahead of her the whole run.

When they reached the gated entrance to the campsite, Dawn tackled Faith just for the hell of it. Faith flipped them over so that she was straddling Dawn's hips. She smiled at the surprised look on Dawn's face, thinking how adorable she looked, but refrained from bending over and giving her a kiss. The campsite might be hold a mile from where they were, but she was positive Buffy could see them from her spot at the campsite, a dutiful big sister watching for the return of her baby sister.

She chuckled as she rose, helping Dawn up as well. "Looks like you lose, Pipsqueak."

"Hey," Dawn squeaked. "I thought we discussed this. I am taller than you are, and a slayer now."

"And yet you squeak like a little girl every time I call you Pipsqueak," Faith sassed playfully.

Dawn smiled evilly and swayed towards Faith. "You didn't think I was all pipsqueak-y a little while ago," she purred innocently. She placed her hands-on Faith's hips and leaned forward to whisper, "When you were kissing me," into her ear.

Faith shuddered at her husky voice, and for the second time in just a few minutes had to force herself to cool down and walk away. "Buffy is watching us," she said quietly. She knew for a fact that Buffy's senses weren't as toned as hers were. She could see far, even in the dark, but her hearing wasn't much better than the baby slayers.

Dawn quickly stepped back and looked over Faith's shoulders. Buffy was indeed staring right at them from her place at around the fire. "Do you think she can hear us?" she asked quietly.

"No. Her hearing ain't as good as her vision," Faith reassured. "I know we need to talk about this, whatever this is, but we can't do it anywhere near B. Okay? There's too much drama between us yet."

"I get it Fai. No talking around the campsite," Dawn reassured.

"Thank you," Faith said.

Dawn smiled kindly at Faith, "You're welcome."

Faith turned towards the gate and placed her hand on the lock, which had been magically enhanced to unlock when a slayer or Willow place her hand on the warn pad. She waited until she heard the clink and then pushed then gates open. They stepped through, and then gave the gates a little shove and they magically closed and locked again.

"Thank you for taking me out," Dawn said as they began their decent to the campsite.

"You don't have to thank me every time we go hunting, Pipsqueak," Faith said. "You know I…" Faith was interrupted by a loud ringing in her pocket. "Damn, I wish that thing was so fucking loud," she grumbled as she retrieved to phone. She looked at the caller id, before looking up at Dawn. "It's Angel. Go on. I'll catch up in a few."

Dawn nodded her head and left Faith. When Dawn got down to the campsite Xander, Buffy, and Giles were gathered around the fire discussing how to rebuild the New Council.

"Hey guys," she said as she got closer to them. They all got quiet as she made her way into the circle. She reached over her head and grabbed the handle of the scythe, just as she had down before, and failed again to gracefully bring it to her front.

Buffy snickered lightly, "You looked like a real slayer until you did that."

"Hey," Dawn said and then thrust the scythe into Buffy's hands. "It's only my second time trying. Faith was going to help me again, but this weird ass demon attacked." She unbuckled the straps of the holder, ad sat down in the empty chair next to Buffy's." It was badass. One second Faith is looking at me and the scythe is on my back, and he next, she had the scythe and is cutting of a demon's head. Then the thing just caught fire. When the fire was gone, there was barely any trace it was even there. No blood, no guts, no body to bury. Just a few singed blades of grass.

She reached into her pocket and pulled the blade of grass out to show them.

"Fascinating," Giles remarked as he inspected a singed blade. "I've heard of demons that burst into flames when killed, but I have never seen one in person."

"No clean up," Buffy said. "I think I'm going to like San Fran."

Giles return the blade he was inspecting to Dawn. "You should keep those my dear. As a keepsake."

"So, we're going to start taking trophies from our kills now?" Buffy snarked lightly.

"I like the idea," defended Dawn. "I'll start a scrap book." She tucked the grass back into her pocket. "What were you talking about?"

Willow hummed, "The council rebuild slash slayer academy."

"Have you decided if we are going to buy a building that fits our needs, or are we going to buy land and build our own building?" asked Dawn.

"I think we should first look around for a building that suits our needs. If we can't find one, then we will discuss building our own place." Giles answered.

"Which brings us to another snag," Xander said. "How are we going to afford to do either of those options? Even if we can find a building, it will probably need to be fixed up and we might need to put in a gym, and a big kitchen and cafeteria, and dorm rooms. On the other hand, if we can't find a building and have to start from scratch, it's going to cost even more. We're talking beams, dry wall, cement, windows, floors, electrical systems, workers, and we're going to have to reinforce everything because it's a school for slayers. Two of them get into a fight and we say bye-bye to the south wing," Xander finished, not noticing the other three staring at him like he'd gone insane.

"Jeez, Xan, Willow babble much," Buffy teased, making Xander blush, and then turned to Giles. "In between his babbling, he made a good point, Giles. How are we going to pay for this?"

"Yes indeed, it is a good point. One we needn't worry about. Once Willow has finished accessing all the Council's accounts on that blasted machine of hers, we will have plenty of money." Giles said with distaste in his voice.

"Ah, Giles, it's the twenty first century. It's about time you get over your fear of computers," Buffy teased the watcher. "How much are we talking' about?"

"In American dollars, it would be well into the billion's," Giles stated. Dawn, Buffy, and Xander's mouths dropped.

"Billion's. As in a billion dollars plus several more billions of dollars?" Dawn asked stunned. Giles nodded his head yes. "So, let me get this straight. The council has all that money, and they let my sister work in a burger joint, struggling to make ends meet, risking her life every night and let Faith live in a rat infested motel, were vampires don't need an invitation to come in, while they lived the high life, without a care in the fucking world," Dawn exploded.

"Dawn, watch your mouth," Buffy said to her little sister, smiling. "She right, what the fuck, Giles?"

"This should come as no surprise Buffy. The old Council was a bunch of bloody wankers. All we can do now is make sure the new slayers and all future slayers are well taken care of. It will not be as it was before. We'll see to it," Giles said.

"How do you think new slayers are going to be called?" Xander wondered aloud.

"I'm not sure. I think only time will tells us how the new slayer line will go," Giles answered pulling his glasses off to clean them. "I'm actually quite excited to learn how the spell affected the slayer line. It's a fascinating turn of events."

Buffy snorted. "Only you would be excited by this."

"Hey," Willow scolded softly. "I'm kind of looking forward to see the progression of the spell too."

"Me too," Dawn chimed in. "Being a slayer is the coolest thing that ever happened to me. I can see things that I never could before. I can I feel the people around me, and I am slightly less clumsy. So that's a plus."

Buffy rolled her eyes playfully, and then huffed in defeat. "Fine. I'm sorry Giles. You're right. It is pretty cool being on the offence for once."

"Amen to that," Xander said, and then raised his can of Dr. Pepper. "I'd like to propose a toast. To finally getting a leg up on the baddies, and to getting a new start."

The rest of the group picked up their various drinks and repeated his finally words. Starting with a snort for Xander, one by one the group broke out in a fit of laughter. Even Giles joined in after a brief moment of thinking his children had finally lost their sanity.

Once the laughter had finally died down and the group regain what little sanity they had left, Buffy moved the conversation back on track. "Okay. So, we've figured out what we're doing, and how we're paying for it. What's next?" asked Buffy.

"Classes. We have to figure out what we're going to teach," said Dawn.

"Yes," Giles agreed. "We will have to procure a license to open the school, and we'll need a curriculum that follows state regulations."

"Um…" Xander said. "I'm no genius, but that means we will need teachers. Like real teachers who went to school to teach. And I'm not talking about a few of them. If Willow is right, there are a few thousand slayers now. We're going to need a lot of teachers."

Buffy, Willow, and Dawn shared a defeated look. They had been talking about their future for over two hours, and during that time they hyped themselves up to a boiling point. For the first time in seven years there wasn't a dark cloud hanging over their heads. It felt liberating.

Now it felt like they were balloons being popped by a sharp needle. Fast and painful. It was a harsh reality check. It made them realize that there were still cloudy days looming on the horizon.

"So, I'm not the only one who just saw a horde of vampires rushing at us, am I?" Dawn asked glumly.

"Mine was turak-hans," Buffy said.

"I'll see your uber vamps and raise you an evil me," Willow countered.

Buffy and Dawn shared a look and then grumbled, "You win."

"You guys are so dramatic."

The group jumped at the sudden voice coming from behind them.

Leaning against the camper behind them was Faith. A cocky grin adorning her face, as usually.

"Seriously," She began as she moved towards them. "You should look into getting some happy pills. You went from happy and hopeful to planning for the next apocalypse with one microscopic problem."

"Faith is correct about the size of our problem," Giles said. "Gaining a qualified teaching staff is as simple as rounding up the remaining watchers. In order to, acclimate into our charge's life, watchers need to take legitimate jobs at times. Since the majority of active slayers and potentials are of school age, a teachings degree is required to graduate from the watcher's academy."

"That…" Buffy. "Makes a lot of sense."

Faith gracefully flopped into the unoccupied chair next to Dawn's. "See. No need to freak. We've dealt with worse. Besides, since the school is going to be private, we can hire whoever the fuck we want to. All we need to worry about is following the state's required curriculum."

All eyes looked to Faith in shock and confusion. "What? My first watcher told me. Her sister didn't have a teaching degree but was a teacher in some private school in New York. She just had a shit ton of experience."

Buffy sat forward and looked at Giles questioningly. "Is she right?"

"Well yes, she is," Giles admitted.

"Now that we've settled that I am right, can we move onto the real problem you should worry about," Faith suggested.

"Which is?" Buffy pressed.

"How the hell you're gonna convince a bunch of parents to let their girls attend the school?" Faith said matter-of-factly.

"That's a really good point," Xander said.

All heads turned to Giles with expectant looks on their faces, but Giles looked just as stumped as they did. He cleared his throat, "I think the Council's way of doing it won't be a viable option."

Something Kendra had once told Buffy, suddenly popped into her mind, and it left an uneasy feeling settle in her stomach. Kendra had never known her family. Being a slayer was a high honor in her village, so her family had given her to the Council at a young age, in hopes that she would one day fulfill that honor. She thought about all the potentials that had arrived at her doorstep over the last seven months, most of whom were set there by their watchers. That can't have all been willingly given to the Council.

"Giles? How exactly did the Council convince parents to give up their daughters?"

Giles leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees. He gave a grave huff a he took off his glasses. "It's no secret that some of the council's methods were… questionable at best. Procuring potentials was one of their more deplorable actions."

"Geeze G. You're getting as dramatic as the rest of them," Faith chuckled weakly. It was a feeble attempt at lifting the dark cloud Giles' tone had casted upon them.

"In this case, I wish I was simply being dramatic," Giles said gravely. "There were a few cases where the daughter of a council member would be identified. For most they would grow up the same as any watcher's kid. For potentials that were discovered later in life, we would acclimate into the potential's life. Like I did with Buffy."

He paused and took a deep breath.

"And the ones who are discovered earlier?" Willow asked worriedly.

"There were rumors among the watchers. A horrible rumor that I didn't believe until after I saw the council's true colors. I did a little research after that. There are a staggering number of girls who were taken from their families and magically erased from their family's minds."

"They kidnap kids!" Dawn yelled.

"What were the girls told?" Buffy asked at the same time.

"Some of the girls were told that their parents died, while others were told that their families were so proud she was a potential, that they gave her to the Council to give her the best chance of survival.

"Like Kendra?" Buffy asked.

Giles cleared his throat. "Yes. Kendra was one of the girls who was forcibly removed from her home."

"What a way to put," Xander grumbled.

"There really is no good way to put it, is there?" Giles sighed.

"Not really," Willow stated. "You are right about one thing. The Council's approach will not work here."

"How about some good old fashion honesty," Xander suggested.

Faith snorted. "Honesty doesn't really fit with a secret life."

"It fits better than kidnapping," Willow sassed.

"Giles, what about the girls?" Buffy asked suddenly.

Every head in the room turned towards Buffy in confusion.

"What do you mean, Buffy?" Giles asked.

She turned to look at the minefield of tents, all scattered just far enough so their baby slayer hearing didn't drive them crazy by listening to a dozen other people. "What about Rona, Vi, Ash, Joe, Anna, and Kennedy? Where did they come from?" she asked quietly.

The harsh reality of the Council's unethical practices sunk into their minds like they had a bucket of ice water poured on their heads. It was one thing to know about what they had done, and another thing to see it firsthand.

Giles removed his glasses again. "Rona's mother is a witch and is aware that her daughter is with us. As for the rest of the girls, I am unaware of their origins. They were all sent to us from other watchers."

Buffy looked to Willow suddenly realizing she had no idea where Kennedy took of too "Wills, do you know if Kennedy knows about her family?"

"She does," Willow assured her. "Kennedy's grandfather was a watcher. She grew up around other potentials and watchers. That's where she is now, with her father in New York."

"But V, Ash, Anna, and Joe could have been taken from her family," Dawn reminded quietly.

"How do we find out?" Faith asked. She was trying to keep the anger out of her tone, but it was clear to the rest of the group that she was pist. She had this overwhelming need to right the wrongdoings of the Council.

"It should be in the girl's files," Giles said.

Xander leaned forward. "And let us guess. Those files are at the Watcher Council's headquarters in London."

"Well yes," Giles said calmly. Too calmly for his children's liking.

"Giles," Dawn chastened. "How are you so calm."

"I assure you. I am anything but calm. However, knowing there is a chance to correct this mistake does have a calming effect."

"Giles," Buffy said sounding exhausted. "The First blew up the Council building."

"Oh," Giles said, suddenly realizing why they were all freaking out. "Well yes, but there are several buildings that make up the Council headquarters. The records the council keep are extensive. They fill up an entire building about the size of the Hyperion."

"And the first didn't blow up that building, why? Xander asked.

"The Record Hall is protected by magic and technology. It's protected from fire, bombs, demons, and anybody who isn't a watcher or with a watcher. The main building was only protected from demons, seeing as we never thought somebody would try and bomb the building."

"Note to self," Willow said. "Magically reinforce every build at the school."

Xander raised his hand. "I second that motion."

"I third that motion," Buffy agreed.

Dawn waved her hand in the air. "Me too. I'd really like to not get blow up."

"I'm all for not getting blown up, but can we get back to the files," Faith interrupted feeling slightly irritated. "When can we get them?"

Giles looked at Faith in surprise. "I.. ah…" He shook his head slightly to clear his mind. He was still adjusting to this calmer, caring side of Faith. "I have to head back to England in a couple of weeks. I can find the girls files while I am there and ship them to you."

"Should we tell the girls?" Buffy asked looking back at the tents again.

Giles was about to say something, but Faith beat him to it. "No," she said confidently, but there was an underlying tone of sorrow in her voice. She hid it well, just not well enough for a few of the group to notice. Especially as she continued speaking. "There is no reason to tell them 'til we're sure. It'll just make them feel like shit."

Giles nodded his agreement. "I suppose the only thing left to discuss is job assignment. Which I believe can wait until in the morning."

"Are you tired?" Buffy teased.

"Yes, my dear. It has been a long year and it seems to be catching up with me," Giles sighed. He stood as quickly as his tired body would allow. "I'll be in my tent if you need anything."

There was a round of good nights as the group all decided to head to their tents. All except for Dawn and Faith, who pulled the tv and PlayStation out of the camper, where she and Dawn were staying, per Buffy's order, and sat up playing Crash Team Racing all night.


	6. Campfire Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. I just wanted to clarify the timeline for the story. So far, each chapter has been spaced out by a week. This chapter starts the day after chapter 5, putting the storyline about 4 to 5 weeks after the fall of Sunnydale. I have 8 chapters completed, with 9th nearly finished. All taking place on this day of the story line. There was a lot to cover.
> 
> I appreciate each review I have gotten since I began posting the new chapters. I really hope you are liking the changes I made, and please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I will gladly answer, provided I'm not giving away too much of the story.

The sun just began to rise when Willow zipped open the tent she shared with Buffy. After a week in San Francisco, she was still getting used the chilly mornings. It reminded her of the time she spent in England. She wrapped herself up in a throw blanket and made her way over to the camp fire, expecting to find Faith sitting in one of the chairs.

Sure enough, Faith was sitting close to the fire, with three cast iron frying pans sitting on the grate, each filled with food. It was the same spot she found her in every morning. She went to sit in the chair opposite when something caught her eye. Underneath the camper's canopy, sprawled out on two beanbag chairs with a blanket covering over inch of her except her head was Dawn. The TV that sat in front of her was still on softly play the theme music to what she was sure was that Crash game they were always playing.

She snorted at Dawn's awkward position.

Faith looked up and followed Willow's line of view. "She finally got tired of kicking my ass at the Crash Racing, and magically made Crash Bash appear. She clonked out after playing for an hour. I gotta say, I like the Crash Bash a lot better than the racing. I can actually hold my own in this one."

She dished two pancakes out of the warmer at the edge of the fire and flopped some scrambled eggs she was cooking and a couple slices of turkey bacon before handing the plate to Willow. She pulled the rest of the turkey bacon out of it's frying pan, and then replaced it with to packet of regular bacon. She then reached over into the cooler that had no ice and pulled out silverware, a tea kettle, syrup, two paper coffee cups with lids, and a jug of water. She handed the syrup and plastic silverware to Willow, before filling the kettle with water and placing it over the fire.

Faith took one of the cups and added two spoons of instant coffee and four sugar, then added three spoons of sugar to the second cup and a green mint tea bag to it. While she waited for the tea kettle to whistle, she stirred the eggs and bacon making sure nothing was burning. When the water finally heated up, she poured Willow's tea cup first, stirred it and placed the lid on it before handing it to the redhead. "Happy birthday," she said quietly as she went back to her own cup.

"Thank you, Faith," Willow said, before taking in the warm smell of mint.

Faith looked up from her cup of coffee and shrugged, "It's five by five, Red. Just doing my part to help out around here."

"Yes, it is a very big deal. You take the night watch every night, you cook for us every morning, and now you're wishing me a happy birthday. That deserves a thank you," Willow insisted.

Faith nodded her head and grunted quietly. She hated when people thanked her, especially when she was doing it to kinda make up for the shit she did in the past.

"What time did Dawn pass out?"

"Bout an hour ago," Faith said as she turned to the second cooler, the one with ice in it, and retrieve a half gallon of milk and a bottle of ketchup. She handed the ketchup bottle to Willow, before pouring milk into her cup.

"Have you told her about your dreams?" Willow asked, causing Faith to tip her cup, spilling the hot contents onto her hand.

"Fuck that's hot," Faith said, avoiding eye contact with Willow. She cleaned herself off, and then tended to the food she had cooking. "I don't know what your talking about Red."

"You don't have to hide from me Faith. You're up all night, and when you do sleep it's for short amounts of time. I had them a lot right after it had happened. It took awhile for them to go away. Unfortunately, they didn't stay away. I started having them again right after Kennedy and I started dating. I even brought a nightmare to life when Ken kissed me, but that's a story for later. It's been year since I went all Dark Willow on the world, and with Kennedy gone, the nightmares have returned. They're kind of a bitch, but you know that."

"Yeah," Faith mumbled. She put the rest of the food in the warmer, after grabbing a plate for herself. The rest of the crew would start to rise soon, and she wanted their food to be ready to go. It was small, but it made her feel helpful. She leaned back with her plate and silently took a bite. Before she took a second, she quietly asked, "What are yours about?"

Willow smiled a little at being able to get Faith to engage in a somewhat normal conversation. "After Tara died and I had been brought back from the darkness, I had two recurring dreams. The first was that I had killed Tara myself. Sometimes I would suck all her magic out of her, leaving nothing behind but an empty shell that used to Tara. Other times I would skin her alive like I did to Wa… Like I did to the man who killed her. Each time I would have this dream, it was like I was watching myself from the outside. I would try and stop my evil self from doing it, but it never worked."

"You skinned your girl's killer?" Faith asked, unable to picture her doing it.

"Yeah. I took the bullet that I retrieved from Buffy's chest, and I buried it into his chest and then I skinned him."

"Damn Red," Faith solemnly said.

"Yeah, not one of my finest moments," Willow rasped.

"What was your second dream?" Faith asked.

"The second dream was me killing everybody. Dawn, Xander, Buffy, Giles;" She paused and snorted lightly, "Even Anya. It was those dreams that made coming back to Sunnydale so hard. When I got with Kennedy I would dream about Tara being upset with me. Upset that I couldn't save her, upset the I couldn't bring her back, upset that I went all evil, or upset that I was moving on. It made the first few months with Ken pretty hard."

"And now?" Faith inquired.

"And now I either dream that I've lost Kennedy like I did Tara, or that Tara hates me for moving on, or that my biological mother wants nothing to do with me. It's worse now that Kennedy's away. Buffy makes a good cuddle buddy, but it's not quite the same as if I were cuddling with Ken."

Faith snorted, "Badass witch who use the word cuddle."

"Hey now. No teasing my word choices or I might turn you into a frog."

"I thought you were afraid of frogs," Faith challenged.

"I got over that fear when I became a badass witch," Willow glowered.

Faith snorted at Willow's feeble attempt at sounding badass. "You're more badass through action Red."

"Yeah," Willow agreed. She kept trying, but rarely succeeded. When she did succeed however, it usually meant you had to run. "So, quid pro quo Faith. I shared my mine, so it's time to share yours."

"Guess that's fair," Faith said. She looked up from her nearly empty plate, to Dawn, who was still sleeping soundly on the beanbag chairs. "The first year in the joint I kept dreaming about killing Finch and Worth. Then suddenly I kept dreaming about Buffy dying. It wasn't until your girl showed up to tell me she was dead, that I realized I was having slayer dreams. The dreams died off for a while. The mind walk I had with Angel was trippy, but when I got back to Sunny-D they started back up again. At first it was that we won, and then Buffy stabbed me. Then it was me killing B like she tried to do years ago, then it was you magicking my ass to the middle of nowhere. They chilled once I realized you weren't out ta get me."

"And now?" Willow asked when she noticed Faith had paused to look at Dawn again.

"And now I dream that there are two of me," Faith replied. "The evil me is given an order by Wilkins to kill Dawn, or Buffy, or you, and she goes to follow that order. I try and stop her but each night I watch as she stabs one of you in the heart with the knife Wilkins gave me."

Willow smiled sadly at Faith. She understood exactly how Faith felt. "Who would have thought that you and I would end up having the most in common."

Faith looked up at Willow as her words sunk in. "Yeah. I guess we do."

Willow took a bite of her cold food, before asking Faith her original question. "So… Does she know about your nightmares?"

Faith didn't know whether to growl or chuckle at Willow's tenacious attitude. "She knows I've been having nightmares, but she don't know what they're about, and I'd like to keep it that way. At least for now."

"You have nothing to worry about from me Faith," she said comfortingly, giving Faith an honest sense of ease. "Their tents must be getting hot," Willow commented randomly.

Just then two of the tents far behind them unzipped, and three of the girls popped out. "Seriously, how the fuck to you do that? I didn't even here them until they started unzipping their tents," Faith asked.

Willow smiled and replied, "It's just a feeling I get."

"Does this mean you're going to feel it when I it the big O with someone?" Faith grinned devilishly.

"God, I hope not," Willow chuckled.

Faith dished out the girl's food, preparing each plate to the specific girl's liking, and then chatted with them while they ate. She was so engrossed in what they were saying, she didn't realize that Willow was watching her.

Willow knew Faith was keeping something from them, other than her growing love for Dawn. She tried to hide that, but it was clear as a Sunny Californian day. At least for some of them. Thankfully Buffy still had her 'blonde' moments. There was just something about the way Faith looked at them. Like she was trying real hard to keep herself in check, which Willow understood. After all, she had been doing the same thing for a year. It was something else that she was keeping.

One by one the small group of slayers and the men rose from their tents and made their way to Faith for their morning nourishment. Each person accepted their plates, thanking her as they took their seats around the fire pit. Faith had gotten breakfast down to a science, each person got only what they liked, and enough to fill them up. Not too much, and certainly not too little.

Cans of soda, bottles of juice and tea, empty cups for brewed tea and coffee, the kettle, and jugs of milk were passed round the circle, as their morning gab fest began. If there was one thing that Faith enjoyed more than anything, it was how well everybody was getting along. After being in a place that was full of pist off, hormonal, I scratch your back, you scratch mine, backstabbing woman, this was heaven. Not that she would willingly admit that allowed. She had to keep so of her street cred.

Dawn was the last to wake, partly because Faith insisted that she be left alone, but mostly because she was just that fucking tired. She loved staying up with Faith all night, but damn did everybody wake up to early. Once Dawn was finished with her eggs and bacon, Faith quietly slipped into the camper to get a few hours of sleep. She had been gifted the camper during the day when it became clear she was going to take every overnight guard duty. It was cooler in the camper because of the AC than in the tents, which became heat boxes under the harsh sunlight.

Faith laid in the bed, listening to the chatter from beyond the tin walls, while enjoying a smoke. She was tired and knew it wouldn't be long before she drifted off to sleep. She used to love sleep. It was up there right behind sex and having a good time. Now she watched the smoke swirl above her with dread.

As she stamped out her cigarette butt the camper door opened. She knew right away that it was Dawn entering her space. Dawn was the only one who dared to enter the camper when she was in it. Dawn's blanket was thrown over her shoulder and looked about ready to pass out again. She came into the bedroom and mumbled, "Scoot over."

Faith laughed. Only Dawn could get away with demanding her to do anything. "And what if I say no?"

"Then I'm just gonna lay on you," Dawn said as she crawled into the bed.

Faith scooted over, but the bed was only a full, forcing them to either lay stiff as a board or cuddle together. Dawn chose the latter and laid her head on Faith's shoulder. "And what if Buffy comes in and sees us together?"

"Nobody comes in here when your sleeping," Dawn reminded her.

"Ya know, your kinda persistent," Faith chuckled as she relaxed into Dawn's embrace. It was kinda nice to have Dawn lying with her.

"Uh huh. Don't lie, you like it," Dawn chuckled sleepily.

Faith just chuckled and allowed Dawn's warmth and soft breathing lure her to sleep.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Paige orbed into Wyatt and Chris's bedroom with a smirk on her face. Chris was no longer in his crib, leading her to believe that Piper already took him downstairs for breakfast. Wyatt on the other hand was standing next to his bed, looking up at his aunt.

"You called?"

Wyatt smiled and nodded his head. "Can we go to magic school?"

Paige smiled and the kid. He already knew if he wants something, he should call his auntie Paige. "We have to ask your mommy first."

"Okay," he said, and then orbed out of the room.

Paige followed his orbs into the kitchen where she found Piper sitting at the table, feeding Chris, who was in his highchair. Wyatt was already sitting across from Piper looking like the innocent boy that he was.

"Paige," Piper said perplexed. "You're here early. Were we supposed to do something today?"

"Nope," Paige grinned. "I was called to a certain little boy's room this morning."

Piper looked to Wyatt in surprise, who looked back at his mother with a toothy smile on his face.

"I wanna go ta magic school," he said.

"Oh, you do, do ya?

Wyatt enthusiastically nodded his head yes.

"And what about your Aunt Paige? Did you ask her if she wanted to go to magic school?"

"I asked. She said we had to ask you," he insisted.

"And is this an adventure I'm invited along to, or is it just a Wyatt and Auntie Paige adventure?"

"You can come if you want to," Wyatt said.

"And what about Chris? Came he come too?"

Wyatt shook your head no. "Uh hu. Chris too little."

"Oh, is he?" Piper asked. She looked up at Paige to see if she was alright with this. She nodded her head yes while shrugging her shoulders, a clear indication that she was cool with whatever Piper wanted to do. "I'll see if Daddy will spend the day with Chris," She told Wyatt as she stood up. "In the meantime, why don't you call your Aunt Phoebe, and see if she wants to come along?" She handed Wyatt the cordless phone and said, "Like a normal person please? Aunt Phoebe is number three on the speed dial. Press this green button, then the three, and then the pound button. It this one down here. Aunt Paige is number two for the next time you want to use her to bamboozle your way into demon hunting."

Wyatt pressed the buttons his mommy told him to press and then waited for his Aunt Phoebe to answer the phone.

In the meantime, Piper went out to the garage, where Leo was working on his truck. She found him underneath the thing again, the last place she liked him to be. She bent down to peek beneath the truck. "You know, seeing you beneath this thing scares the crap out of me."

Leo looked over at Piper, and then rolled out from beneath the truck. "Hey. You always said you wanted a normal life," He smiled up at her. "Can't get much more normal than fixing a truck with your own hands."

"That was until I realized you're more likely to be crushed by that thing, than you are to be killed by a demon."

Leo sat up and chuckled, "You worry too much." He stood up and put his wrench on his work bench. "Besides, we saw in our future that we live a long and happy life together."

"You know as well as I do that the future can be changed Leo. When we travel to 2009 seven years ago, Prue was alive, and blonde, Phoebe was burnt at the stake, and you and I were divorced with only one child, a little girl, not two little boys."

"Alright, fair enough. I promise to be extra careful when working on the truck," Leo promised.

"Good," Piper said, and then leaned in for a kiss, which Leo gladly gave. "So, guess what your oldest did this morning."

"Un oh," Leo said. She only used the term 'your' when Wyatt did something she didn't like.

"He called Paige into his room to ask if she would take him to magic school," Piper said half irritated, but there was also amusement in her tone.

"Nice move," Leo said. "Use the auntie to get his magical way."

"A trick he won't play again I hope," Piper said. "Can you watch Chris for a while?"

"Sure. Just let me put the truck down and get cleaned up," Leo said, and then moved back towards his truck.

Piper slipped quietly out of the garage and back into the house. Wyatt was sitting at the table giving Chris small pieces of his pancakes, while Paige looked at them with glee in her eyes. She knew how much her sister loved her children, and then was always comforting knowledge. She knew that if anything ever happened to her, Wyatt and Chris would be in good hands.

"So, what did Aunt Phoebe say?"

Wyatt didn't look away from Chris as he answered, "Aunt Phoebe says she has to work today."

"Well that's too bad," Piper said. "Your daddy is going to stay with Chris. Why don't you and Aunt Paige go up to the attic and get a few potions."

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Paige entered the attic through the doorway like a normal person, per Piper's instruction, but stopped before she got very far. Every spot that had once been empty was now covered in boxes. There were boxes on the bed, boxes on the floor, boxes on the love seat, boxes on top of other boxes, boxes covering chests that most certainly hadn't been there before.

"Piper," she yelled as loud as she could, and then stood there waiting for her to run up there.

It took Piper forty-six second to get from the kitchen to the attic, with a small detour to put Chris in his crib. She was ready to fight a demon, but what she found was more horrifying. "What the hell?" she shrieked. She pushed her way into the room and spun around. "Where did all these boxes come from?"

"That's what I was going to ask you," Paige said.

Wyatt giggled.

"I was up here last night, and there were no boxes," Piper bleated. "Where'd they all come from?"

"I don't know, but if I were to take a guess. This stuff belongs to the house guest you're about to receive."

"So, they magically set their things ahead," Piper scoffed.

Wyatt giggled again and shook his head. "No."

Piper looked down at her son, who was smiling devilishly up at her, and asked, "Wyatt, do you know how these boxes got here?"

"Yes, but I can't tell you. It's a secret."

Piper looked up at Paige in alarm. "The alarm system is still working Piper. Whoever it was, wasn't a demon. You wound have known if it were."

"Are you sure?" Piper asked.

"I'm positive. I test the system yesterday, remember."

"Right. Okay." Though she said the words, her tone portrayed her lingering doubt. This was her baby after all, and somebody who may or not be her big sister was visiting her him under the cloak of night.

"If you want, I will stay tonight and watch over the boys as they sleep," Paige offered.

"No. No. You're right. You checked the system yesterday," Piper said.

Wyatt tugged on Paige's shirt. "Can we go to magic school now."

"In a few minutes buddy," Paige answered. "First we have to dig out your Mommy's box of potions."

"Yes. We need the vials with the cloudy baby blue potion in it. It's the vanquishing potion for the nest Kepler demons squatting in the headmaster's office."

"Yes, we need those," Paige agreed.

They both started moving boxes around as they made their way to where Piper kept her potions. As they picked up the boxes Paige noticed something. First, was how heavy they were and second was the names written on the boxes.

"Piper, there are names on these."

"I noticed," Piper said. "Mine mostly say Buffy on them, but I see a few Dawn as well."

"I've got Willow boxes, and Dawn, and there are Xander boxes over there." Paige picked one up and grunted under the weight. "This one says Anya on it."

"This one says Buffy and Dawn on it," Piper said as she moved the box onto another pile. She looked across a wall of boxes. "Ooh, I see my potions. They're under the table."

"Hold on," Paige said, as she made her way closer to Piper. "Let me see." Piper moved out of her way, so she could get a visual of the potions. Once Paige could see them, she called out for them, and they appeared in her arms as few second later. "Okay. We can go now."

"Yes please," Piper said. She was eager to get the hell out of the death trap she once called her attic.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Buffy asked, from her spot on the toilet. In addition to the camper, there was also a shed that had been converted into a bathroom. Apparently, who ever owned the property before Wolfram and Hart was okay with living in a camper, but not showering in one. Not that they minded. The shower in the camper was as you would expect, cramped, and it had a very small hot water tank.

Willow popped her head out of the shower, and said, "I'm sure Buffy. This is something I have to do on my own."

"Okay, but if you need me, just call and I will come running," Buffy insisted.

Willow smiled. "I know Buffy. That why you're my best friend."

"Don't let Xander hear you say that," Buffy commented.

Willow went back to her shower, while Buffy sifted through Willow's freshly washed clothing, trying to decide which look would be the best 'going to meet my mom' look. So far, she had it down to two outfits. Jeans with a blue button up shirt, and a red polo shirt, a black skirt, with red tights and a pair of high boots. She remembered Willow wearing a similar outfit right after she returned from England. Willow must have liked it, because she replaced it.

She decided on the latter outfit, believing it suited the redhead better. It was less casual than the former, but it still looked respectable. She folded the first outfit and tucked it back into Willow's suitcase. "Wills, did you buy any jewelry?"

The shower turned off and Willow's hand appeared from behind the curtain to retrieve the towel hanging from the hook on the wall. The hand, with the towel disappeared behind the curtain, and then a few seconds later, the curtain was pushed to the side, revealing Willow wrapped in the towel. "What'd you say?"

"I asked if you bought any jewelry?" Buffy repeated.

"Um yeah. Kennedy picked out a pair of earrings for me and a matching cross," Willow said as she dried her hair with a second towel. "It should be in the front pocket. I told her I didn't really need one, being a witch and all, but she insisted."

Buffy reached into the front pocket and pulled out two small boxes, she opened the first, expecting to find either the earrings or the necklace but found both. "What's in the second box," she asked.

"What box?" Willow asked.

Buffy turned and showed the box to her. She looked at it in confusion. "I have no idea. There was only one box."

She took the square box from Buffy and gently lifted the lid off. A folded piece of paper fell from the box before she could grab it. Buffy caught it before could it reach the floor and handed it to her. Inside the box rested a golden triquetra about the size of a quarter, interlaced with a circle. It was attached to a gold chain. "Wow," she commented.

"That's pretty," Buffy said. "What is it?"

"It's a triquetra laced with a circle," Willow as though that explained it.

"And what does it mean?" Buffy pushed.

Willow looked up at Buffy and smiled. "Well the triquetra itself has been linked to many different cultures through the years. It's hard to say who it original belonged to. It basically means whatever it wants to whoever wears it or uses it. In the wicca community it signifies the Triple Goddess and is often worn for protection. This one has also been used as a Christian symbol for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in at least one faith."

"So, Kennedy was either spot on or way off with this gift," Buffy commented.

Willow chuckled, "Yeah. Guess this is what I'm wearing. Can you help me put it on?"

"Sure," Buffy said. She gently took the necklace and unclipped it, then carefully placed it around Willow's neck. Buffy marveled at how delicate she could be at times. She had broken so many chains because she forgot how strong she could be. "There you go. Read the note she left."

Willow opened the note and pre-read it took make sure she wasn't about to read something dirty to her friend. When she finished reading it, she had to read it again.

"What's wrong Wills? You have worried face on."

"The necklace isn't from Kennedy," Willow said. Then read the note aloud, "Happy Birthday, Willow. Wear this on your big day so those you seek with recognize you as theirs. With love always... PH"

"Who's PH?" Buffy asked.

"I have no idea," Willow replied.

"So, a box of jewelry just randomly appeared in you bag, and you have no idea who put it there," Buffy summed up. "That's just great. I want my own secret jewelry giver."

"Unknown jewelry is not all fun and game Buffy, or do you not remember the time Dawnie stole a necklace and accidentally summoned, Sweets, the singing demon from hell, who came to collect her to be his bride."

"How could I forget?" Buffy said sardonically. "Are you feeling any weirdness?"

Willow touched the triquetra. "No. It just seems like any old necklace to me."

"Then I think you'll be okay, but if anybody starts randomly singing come home immediately so we can prepare."

"You want to prepare the song you'll be forced to sing?" Willow joked.

"Wills," Buffy groaned. "Seriously though, if anything starts to feel hinky, come home."

"I promise Buffy," Willow said. She went back to drying her hair, as Buffy searched through her was for a pair of panties and a bra.

"Are you sure you don't know who PH is?" Buffy asked.

"I don't know. The only person I know with those initials is my biological mother, Prudence Halliwell. Actually, her sisters as well. Piper and Phoebe."

Buffy handed Willow her underwear, and then asked, "Do you think it's possibly it was one of them?"

Willow slipped on her panties, then dropped her towel before putting her bra on. "I suppose anything is possible. Clothing please."

Buffy handed Willow the outfit she chose. She quickly dressed and then asked Buffy to help with her hair. She wanted to look as nice as possible.

"On a scale of one to ten, how nervous are you?" Buffy asked as she brushed Willow's hair.

"I'd say a seven point five," Willow said.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?"

"Buffy. I'm positive," Willow chuckled.

"Just had to make sure," Buffy said. "There all done."

"Thanks Buffy."

"You look great," Buffy commented. "If anything goes wrong just call. I'll be there in a heartbeat.


	7. Reunions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long ass chapter, with a lot of information. I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out, but here it is. I hope you like it.

Paige entered the kitchen after putting Wyatt down for a nap. "He's out. Poor guy was out before his head even hit his pillow."

"Demon hunting will do that to you," Piper chuckled. She picked up the plate from their lunch and took the to the sink to wash them. "I can't believe he was able to vanish the demon who was immune to my powers."

"I know. He is already so powerful," Paige agreed.

"I can understand why Chris was so eager to save Wyatt," Piper sighed. "I can't imagine our sweet little boy turning into a powerful source of evil. We have to do everything to make sure Wyatt never turns into the Wyatt from Chris's future."

"We will, Piper," Paige promised. "He had fun today, despite only being able to vanquish a few demons."

"We just have to be careful," Piper said, and then turned away from the sink. "We might have beaten evil into the ground, but that doesn't mean they're gone. If word gets out that we are taking Wyatt on hunts in the magic school, we could have trouble."

"We will be careful, Piper. I will die before I let anything happen to Wyatt," Paige declared.

"That's what I am afraid of Paige. I am not about to lose another sister. Not after I just got you all back. We've gotten lucky time after time. The next time won't we won't be so lucky."

"We're safe Piper," Paige said as she advanced on Piper. "We got this." She pulled Piper in for a hug and gripped her tight. "I love you, Piper."

"I love you too, Paige," Piper responded, and held onto Paige tightly.

As she held onto her sister, Paige suddenly started to feel strange. She didn't feel sick or anything, but her skin was tingling slightly. As the feeling grew with intensity, she realized what it was. She was feeling magic, or rather somebody else's magic.

She let Piper go. "Do you feel that?"

Piper looked at Paige with concern. "Um, no. What are you feeling?"

"My skin is tingling. Like after we do a big spell," she said. "I think I'm sensing magic."

"Do you think your whitelighter senses are expanding?" asked Piper.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's powerful," Paige said, and then spun around to face the door way. "Really powerful."

"Do you think we should scry for…?" Piper started to ask but was interrupted by a knock on the front door. "Or we can just answer the door."

The two of them walked to the front door, and Piper opened it timidly. Both half expecting whoever was on the other side to attack them as soon as it was opened. What they weren't expecting was a petite redheaded woman, who looked like she couldn't hurt a fly, standing nervously on the porch.

Paige could feel the power radiating off her though. So much power.

"Hello, can we help you?" Piper asked her, trying to sound friendly.

"Um, hi. I'm looking for Prudence Halliwell. Does she live here?" Willow asked, nervously. She was trying to stay calm, but hey, she had been dreaming about this day for years. Some nerves were to be expected.

Piper looked at the girl as though she had just been dropped out of the year 2000. Nobody had called or asked if Prue still lived there is years. It was common knowledge that she was murdered here in the manor. She looked back to Paige, silently asking her what to say.

"I'm sorry. We didn't get your name. What is it?" Paige asked over Piper's shoulder.

"Sorry. I'm Willow Rosenburg. I'm sorry to just drop by like this. I probably should have called first, but I was so nervous."

Paige moved next to Piper, and they shared a knowing look. Willow was one of the names on the mysterious boxes in the attic. "Willow, you say. That's a pretty name," Paige said.

"Unique too," Piper added. The gold necklace around Willow's neck suddenly glowed, capturing both sister's attention. "I'm Piper. You have a very nice necklace." She reached out and touched it. "It's very charming."

"Thanks." Willow touched the triquetra tenderly. "It was a birthday present. Though I don't know from who. My best friend Buffy was getting my outfit ready for me and found the box in my suitcase. Somebody had left it there with a note saying to wear it today."

"Buffy huh," Piper said and then looked to Paige. Another box name. "Paige. Did you hear that? Her best friend's name is Buffy."

"I did and she's getting secret boxes too," Paige said.

They looked back to Willow, who was now looking at them strangely. "Why don't you come in Willow? I think we have somethings that belongs to you."

Willow paused and looked at the woman suspiciously. She suddenly felt like a child who wasn't supposed to go into strangers' homes. "Um. I hope the thing you have for me is information on Prudence Halliwell."

"We have that too," Piper said.

"It's okay, Willow. I'm sure a witch as powerful as you could hold her own against us," Paige said.

Willow paused and glared suspiciously at Paige. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"We've been expecting you," Piper said.

"And I could feel your magic before you knocked," Paige said, and then orbed into the living room.

Willow's eyes widened, "How'd she do that."

"Come in and find out," Piper said, and then followed her sister's orbs. They only had to wait for a few second before they heard the door click closed. Willow slowly walked through the foyer, marveling at the sight of the house.

"This place is amazing," she muttered to herself. "You guys aren't demons are you, or dark witches, because Buffy will be really pissed at me if I walked into a demon's house after I insisted I didn't want her to come with."

"We're not demon's or evil," Piper said. "I am a witch though."

"And I'm a whitelighter-witch," Paige said.

"What's a whitelighter? Willow asked.

"Um…" Paige said. She thought for sure this very powerful witch would at least know what a whitelighter was. Shouldn't she have one after all. "Didn't your whitelighter send you here?"

Willow said and pulled a folded-up piece of paper from her pocket. She stepped towards Piper and handed her the paper. "I wasn't sent here. I already told you that I'm looking for Prudence. I was looking online for her, but there hasn't been a trace of her since 2001. I saw that you still lived here, so I decided to start with you. I'm her daughter."

Paige scoffed, while Piper snatched the paper Willow was offering. "Prue doesn't have a kid," she stated firmly. "I'm sure I would know if my sister had a child. Right Piper? You wouldn't keep something like that from me, would you?"

"I'm sorry. I thought Prue youngest sister was Phoebe," Willow said.

"We have a sister named Phoebe. She doesn't live here anymore, and has a life, unlike me. Our mother gave me up for adoption. We only found each other four years ago after…" Piper's hand slapped over Paige's mouth before she could tell her about Prue's death.

"Paige, look at this," Piper said handing the paper to Paige. "Excuse me Willow. I think I am going to call Phoebe. She'll want to meet you. I'll be right back," she said, then left the room.

Paige looked down at the paper and was stunned at what she was reading. Willow really is Prue's daughter. She looked up at Willow, stunned. "I didn't know Prue had a kid," she said weakly. "Um… Make yourself at home. I'm just gonna follow my sister for a minute." She didn't wait for Willow to respond, before turning around and following in Piper's path.

She found Piper in the kitchen on the phone, so she quietly waited for Piper to hang up.

Piper hung the phone up, and then turned around. She jumped slightly, "Paige. You startled me. Why did you leave Willow alone?"

"I left her alone because apparently she's family," gibed Paige at the lack of knowledge share to her by the people she called family.

"Are you angry about Willow being Prue's daughter?" asked Piper, who was not understanding where Paige attitude had come from.

"No, Piper. I am not angry at Willow. I am angry at you and Phoebe. Why the hell didn't you tell me I had a niece out there somewhere?" Paige yell at Piper. "I think I had a right to know that."

"Keep your voice down," Piper said, and then peeked out the kitchen to make sure Willow wasn't close. She turned and quietly said, "Paige, we didn't mean to keep this from you. It just hadn't come up. None of us thought we'd ever get to see her again."

"And you think your sorry is going to make it all better?"

Piper nodded her head, and said "Yeah, cause you can't stay mad at us long. Besides, look on the bright side. Now you have someone to share your 'I was adopted syndrome' with," Piper said smiling.

"Hey," Paige scoffed.

"Well it's true," said Piper.

"It is not," Paige said, imitating her three-year-old nephew perfectly.

"No pouting," Piper playfully said.

"Paige huffed. "Fine," she conceded. "I may have a slight resentment issues over my adoption."

"Ah Missy Paige," Piper cooed Piper. "I though we've talked about this. We love you. To be honest, sometimes I forget that you've only been in our lives for five years. It seems like I've known you as long as Phoebe."

Paige looked at Piper unsurely. She knew Piper and Phoebe loved her, but there was always a feeling that she was missing something. Like when she was talking to Piper a few weeks ago about Prue. There was so much that she still doesn't know about their lives from for she showed up. Yes, she had made a special bond with them. Yes, she loved them very much. It was just silly little things that reminded her that she was the new guy to the group. It may not happen as often as it had five years ago, but her insecurities still got the best of her at times.

Hearing Piper reaffirm her love and acceptance was always a gift to her ears, mind, and heart. "Thank you, Piper."

"I'm sorry I never told you about Prue having a child. I just didn't think it was relevant. We never really talked about the baby after Prue gave her up for adoption. Prue didn't deal very well with it.

"I understand why you didn't think to tell me, Piper, but I want to know everything. Even the things that may seem irrelevant."

"Okay," Piper said. "I promise to tell you everything about our past. We'll make a whole night of it."

Paige smiled at Piper happily. She felt much better now than she had a few minutes before. "We should probably go check on her before something happens."

The words had barely left Paige's mouth when a scream rang out through the house, followed quickly by the sound of shattering glass.

Piper threw Paige a quick glare that clearly portrayed her annoyance. and said, "You just had to say it." She quickly ran out of the kitchen, with Paige following closely behind her. When they reached the living room, Willow was nowhere to be seen, and nearly every glass object in the room was shattered, including the glass windows. Wyatt, who was clearly the culprit of Willow's magical freak out, was now standing on the couch with his shield up.

"Where'd she go?" Paige asked frantically.

"I'm right here," Willow said sounding annoyed.

The sisters looked around the room, with matching looks of confusion. "Where are you?" Piper asked.

"I'm standing right in front of you," Willow said, with annoyance bleeding from her voice.

"Wow its Phoebe 2.0," Piper said.

"What?" Willow asked.

"Um… Sweetie, I think you're invisible," Paige said.

"No, I'm not. I can't do that," Willow adamantly said. "Well except for this one time, but that wasn't so much me becoming invisible, as it was me transitioning me myself onto a parallel plain by accident. It was like I was a ghost really. Which now that I think about it, it was pretty cool."

"That does sound pretty cool," Paige said sounding intrigued. "You said you did it by accident. What were you feeling when you did it?"

Piper backhanded Paige's arm. "Now is not the time for you to release your inner whitelighter."

"Sorry," Paige said sheepishly. "Look down Willow."

"Ah dang it. Not again," Willow groaned.

"Do you think you did the same thing you did before?" Paige asked.

"Yes… No…" Willow said indecisively. "Maybe. I could see myself the last time. I existed in the same time and space. I just couldn't see my friends, and they couldn't see, hear, or feel me. The only person who could see me was Anya, probably because she was a Vengeance demon again. She helped me when the Gnarl demon was eating my skin. The demon was invisible to my friends as well, but not like I was. Buffy was able to kick his ass with the visual assist from Anya."

"You're friends with a demon?" Piper asked incredulously.

"Really Piper, a demon was eating her skin, but it's the demon friend that you care about? Now is so not the time to go all mother hen," Paige said, mimicking Pipers earlier statement. "But it totally is time for me to let my whitelighter skills roam free."

"Fine," Piper conceded. She pointed her finger in the direction she believed Willow to be in, and said in a motherly tone, "Don't think we aren't going to talk about this demon friend."

"You just can't help yourself, can you?" Paige asked.

"No. Not really," Piper answered.

"There really isn't much to tell, anyway. Anya was an eleven-hundred-year-old vengeance demon who lost her amulet, became human again, fell in love with Xander, got her heart broken by Xander, became a vengeance demon again, fought to become human again, and then died during the final battle of Sunnydale."

"I think you need to redefine your definition of 'not a lot'," Paige commented.

"And I still want to hear about it," Piper added.

"So," Paige inserted quickly. "What were you feeling when you put yourself into that parallel plane?"

Silence swelled through the room.

After debating with herself for over a minute, Willow finally said, "I was scared."

"What were you scared of?" Paige asked.

Silence again.

"I did something unforgivable," Willow said quietly. "I went to England right afterwards, and when I returned, I was afraid that my friends would hate me. That they wouldn't be waiting for me when I got off the plane. They were there waiting for me, but I couldn't see them because I had already trigged my spell by accident. They couldn't see me either."

"Okay good. Now what were you feeling right before you did the disappearing act this time?"

"Anxious and scared," Willow admitted. "I did a very large spell a few weeks ago, and my magic has been close to the surface. That little boy just appeared in front of me and it startled me. I think that's when it happened."

"That and my windows apparently," Piper groaned.

"Sorry."

"It's okay sweetie. I'll fix it later," Paige said.

Wyatt waved his hands above his head. "I'll do it," he said excitedly. He lowered his shield and orbed to the floor next to Piper.

"Oh no you will not," Piper scolded.

"But mommy," Wyatt whined. "I know how to. Auntie Pay taught me."

Piper looked at Paige sharply. "Oh, really huh?"

Paige gave Piper a sheepish look, and then shrugged her shoulders. "I may have taught Wyatt a few spells when Henry as away."

"Now I see why he went to you when he wanted to go demon hunting," She said. She looked down at the boy. "Alright Wyatt. Show us what you can do."

Wyatt looked up at Paige for reassurance, and then moved towards the shattered windows.

"Let the object of objection," he began. He struggled through the pronunciation but succeeded quite well for a three-year-old. "Become but a dream," he said with more ease. "As I cause this seen to become unseen."

Light blue orbs began shimmering throughout the room, and in seconds the shattered glass was whole again.

"Wow," Willow said. "That was amazing. He's so young. How does he have that kind of power?"

"He was born with it," Piper answered. She moved toward Wyatt to congratulate to young witch, when she noticed Willow's finger tips next to her. She picked Wyatt up and tickled his tummy. "You did a great job buddy."

"Thanks Mommy," Wyatt giggled.

"What was the bubble around him?" Willow asked.

"That was his shield. He probably put it up because of the shattering glass," Piper said, and then turned to face Willow and Paige. "This is Wyatt, my oldest son. He is a witch like us, and part-whitelighter.

Willow stepped forward and extended her hand out to him, forgetting that she was still invisible. Wyatt grasped the nearly invisible hand regardless. The second their hands touched there was a soft blue-purplish glow that surrounded Willow's invisible body.

"Wow, how'd you do that?" Willow asked in awe as she stared at her own glowing hands.

Wyatt didn't answer her. Instead he gave his patented smile, which he had been perfecting since infancy. Anytime he did unexplainable magic, he would smile, and everybody would forget how extraordinary his magic was.

Piper knew her son's look very well. She smiled softly at the young blonde-haired boy. "Honey can you do me a favor? Can you orb to your grandpa's, and get your Daddy, please? Tell him it's an emergency," Piper asked.

"Sure, Mommy. I'll be right back," Wyatt said then orb out of the room.

"Wow. How does he do that? I've never seen or read about that kind of teleportation before." Willow's thirst for knowledge out weighing her nervousness.

The glow quickly began to fade, so Piper suggested, "Why don't you sit down, and I'll explain."

"Ok," Willow said, and Piper felt her sit down next to her.

"Wyatt is part whitelighter. A kind of guardian angel for witches. His teleportation is called orbing. Paige is part whitelighter too, that why she could do it as well," Piper said looking over at her sister. "Show her again Paige," Paige orbed out and orbed back in at the same spot.

"That was so cool. What is it like being part-whitelighter?" Willow asked. Willow sat there absorbing everything Paige was saying about her duties as a whitelighter, until the front door opened, and Phoebe ran into the living room. "What's the emergency? Are they here?"

"Sort of, we have one of them, but that's not why she's here. Phoebe this is our niece, Willow Rosenberg." Piper said standing up and pointing to the couch where she knew Willow was sitting.

"Piper, have you gone crazy? There's no one there, and we don't have a niece," Phoebe said confused.

"Phoebe, we do have a niece, and she's sitting right here. She turned herself invisible," Piper said looking a Phoebe like she'd gone insane. Phoebe decided to go along with it for now but was completely confused by what was going on.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm your Aunt Phoebe apparently. Though I'm confused about that," Phoebe said as extended her hand to where Piper had pointed.

"Hi," came a bubbly disembodied voice, which startled Phoebe. Her hand was suddenly waving in midair, seemingly by its self, although there most defiantly something gripping her hand. "It's nice to meet you," the disembodied voice said.

"Wow," Phoebe said, as she watched her hand move up and down. "This is creepy. I guess this is how you felt when I was invisible."

"Yeah, pretty much," Piper chuckled.

"I'm sorry this is a little weird," Phoebe said to where she believed Willow was.

"It's ok. I know how you feel. We had an invisible girl in our class, who was trying to hurt Cordy and Buffy. That was weird," Willow babbled.

"What happened to her?" Paige asked.

"We don't know. She got hurt when she was fighting with Buffy, and then a couple of government agents came and took her away. We never heard anything after that, but you know government agents, they're all about the secrets."

"We have dealt with government people before," Piper said. "Not our most favorite experience."

"So, we've dealt with the invisible part, how about the niece part, cause I'm drawing a blank on that one," Phoebe said.

"I'm Prudence's daughter. Who I haven't met yet. Is she getting here soon?"

Phoebe looked amused at how fast Willow jumps from one thing to another, but then she looked at her sisters with a sad look.

"She doesn't know about Prue?" she asked. Two heads shook no. "And you haven't told her?" Again, her sister shook their heads no.

"Told me what? What are you talking about?" Willow asked, her voice clearly portraying her nervousness.

"Honey, calm down. We'll explain after my husband get here, and we get you visible again," Piper said.

"Okay," Willow said.

"I'm confused," Phoebe began, sitting down in the chair next to Paige's. "How did you become invisible, and when did Prue have a kid?"

"I didn't mean to do it. I'm not even sure how I did it. I've never been able to do it before, even with all the magic I absorbed last year," Willow said more to herself then the sisters. "And twenty-one years ago, today."

"Twenty-one years ago, what?" Phoebe asked, confused by how fast Willow talks.

"She's telling you when Prue had her, you dork," Paige said smiling.

"Oh, so you turn twenty-one today. Happy Birthday," Phoebe said.

"Thank-you," Willow said, as Wyatt orbed back into the room with his Dad.

"Hi, honey," Piper said, going over to Leo and giving him a kiss.

"Your dad has Chris. He said he'll bring him home later," Leo said. "Wyatt said something about a disappearing lady."

"Yeah, Willow," Piper said pointing to the couch where she knew Willow sat. "Willow this is my husband, Leo. We'll give you some space. Come on Wyatt," Piper said, grabbing Wyatt's hand, and walking toward the kitchen.

She stopped at the conservatory and looked down at Wyatt. "Go ahead and play buddy but leave Willow and your daddy alone for now. I'll bring you a snack in a few minutes."

"Okay," Wyatt said and ran over to his pile of toys. He blinked his eyes and a second later the tv was playing his favorite show.

Piper joined her sisters in the kitchen.

"So, we have a niece," Phoebe stated the second Piper had crossed the threshold.

"Yes, we do. Don't you remember Prue being pregnant?" asked Piper.

"No, I don't," She said.

"That's weird," Paige said.

"Everything about this family is weird," Piper scoffed.

"While that may be true, it is still strange that I don't remember my own sister having a baby."

"Okay. I agree with that. You were always talking about the baby, right up until a few weeks after she was gone, then like magic you stopped."

"Like magic eh?" Paige asked.

"You don't think Grams did something to my memory do you?" asked Phoebe.

"It wouldn't be the first spell Grams used on us," Piper said.

"Well, who's her father?" asked Paige.

"Andy," Piper answered.

"His name wasn't on the adoption papers," Paige said.

"Is that it?" Phoebe asked pointing to the folded piece of paper still in Paige's hand. Paige nodded, and handed her the piece of paper.

Wyatt orbed in while Phoebe was reading the paper. "Mommy, can I have a drink?"

"Sure buddy," Piper said and then ruffled Wyatt's hair.

Wyatt sat at the table, while he waited for his mom do bring him a cup of juice.

"Are we sure she is who she says she is? How do we know that she's not a demon, and this is just a fake?" Asked Phoebe, bringing up a good point.

"I'm not a demon, and that is real. I promise. Not that that means a whole lot, because you don't know me. You can check it out if you'd like. I won't get mad," Willow said coming into the kitchen behind Leo.

"I could go check with the elders, but I think the boxes in the attic are proof enough," Paige said.

"Or you can just ask me," a familiar voice said as blue orbs bagan to form in between them. She was wearing gold and white robes, a smile on her face, and didn't look any older than the day she died.

Piper, Phoebe, and Leo were looking at Prue stunned. Paige was unsure as to what she was seeing, and Willow wasn't sure why everybody was looking at this strange woman like they were seeing a ghost. In fact, the only person who said anything was Wyatt, who stood up and threw himself at Prue excitedly, yelling, "Hi Aunt Prue," as he flew through the air.

Prue caught the little boy and spun him around. "Hello again, Wyatt."

"I'm really glad you're here," he said aloud, and then whispered, "It was getting hard to keep our secret."

"I know buddy, but you did well," Prue praised him. "Now we can be a family." She set her nephew down and smiled at him fondly. She touched his cheek softly, marveling at the fact that she was able to do so in the light, with her family surrounding her.

She looked up and turned to where Piper and Phoebe were standing. "Well, are you going to stand there and stare or are you going to come hug your big sister," Prue said, smiling.

For a moment, all she received was tear filled stares, then as though somebody gave them a cosmic push Piper and Phoebe collided into Prue, each of them putting their faces into the crook of Prue's neck. She could feel that they were crying. She turned and gave Phoebe a kiss on her head, and then gave one to Piper. She was so happy to be in the arms of her sister's again. She hated every minute the elders made her wait.

She looked up at the remaining women. Paige was standing next to Willow, with a smile on her face. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Willow on the other hand was watching her curiously.

Phoebe looked up from her place, with a huge smile on her face. "Is this for real? How long do you get to stay?"

"This is very really Pheebs," Prue whispered. Then out loud she said, "And I'm here to stay, permanently."

Both middle sisters stepped away from Prue in surprise. "Really?" Piper asked. "This isn't another test is it."

"No, it isn't, Piper. I am your reward," Prue said. "One of them anyway."

Piper wiped her tears away as she laughed happily. Phoebe on the other hand wrapped her arms around Prue again, and continued to cry into her shoulder. Prue just held onto her as tight as she could, understanding how difficult it was for her. She missed them as well, but at least she was able to see their lives unfold from the heavens. For them, she was just gone. A life cut short and missing from their lives.

Once Phoebe had calmed down, Prue moved to Paige. She looked at her for a few second, finally getting a good look at her baby sister, before hugging her. "It is so good to finally meet you, Paige," She whispered in her ear.

"It's good to finally meet you, too, Prue," Paige whispered back, and tightened her grip on Prue. She had heard so much over the years about her eldest sister. She was happy to finally be able to feel what Piper and Phoebe had been describing.

Prue let go of her youngest sister and turned toward the redhead. "Hello, Willow," She said, with a huge smile on her face. "I am so happy you are finally home again."

Willow wasn't sure what to say. Standing in front of her was the person who had given her up for adoption twenty-one years before. The person who she had been dreaming about for years. Suddenly it was like she was back in high school before Buffy showed up and gave her the little confidence push she needed.

Before she could manage to figure out what to say, Prue was chuckling at her. She looked at her as though she had gone completely insane. Then for a brief moment she thought that she was still in her tent, dreaming out her high school fear of stage fright with her would be family as her audience.

That was until Paige commented, "There she goes again."

Willow looked at her, and then looked down at herself. "Oh, darn it. Not again," she said, as she was staring into the nothingness where her body was supposed to be. She suddenly realized why Prue was chuckling.

"Don't worry. Once we sort out your powers, it shouldn't take you too long to master this one," Prue said.

"I hope so. The fear of staying invisible forever aside, this could be a useful power," Willow said. She thought hard about her body being visible for a few seconds, which caused her to slowly become whole again. "Nifty."

"I agree," Phoebe said. "How comes I couldn't have that power?"

"I distinctly remember you being invisible and hating it," Paige reminded her.

"Yeah well that was because it was my wedding day, and it's really hard to see the bushing bride is she's not there to be seen," Phoebe countered.

"And looked how well that turned out," Paige argued. "You married the source of all evil, got pregnant with his demon spawn, and then became the queen of all evil."

"Yes… Well… Yes… But…" Phoebe stuttered. "At least I didn't marry a mortal."

"Says the woman who feel in love with a demon," Paige said.

"Alright now, we don't want to scare our niece away, do you," Piper chastened.

Paige and Phoebe blushed and retreated to their corners of the room., meekly saying sorry as they moved.

Willow was staring at them with amusement written all over. They sounded like her, Xander, and Buffy before all the badness happened. She was hoping that the playful nature of their relationship would return with time.

"All playing aside, the invisibility power could be useful, especially with the Scoobies arriving any day now, bringing who know what evil with them," Phoebe said, not realizing that Willow was one of the very people she was waiting for.

"Hey. We don't bring the evil. We smack the evil into the ground, and then dance on their graves. Mostly, unless we are the evil, then there isn't so much dance-y because I'm all black hair and veiny."

Phoebe looked at Willow confused, then it dawned on her, "You're a Scooby?"

"Yup. We used to be just me, Xander, Buffy, and Giles, but the group has grown over the years," said Willow.

"Oh," said Phoebe, feeling very lost again. She looked at her sister to see if they were feeling the same, but they were looking very passive. "How am I the last to know this?"

"Because you have been busy working," Paige said. "You weren't here this morning when we found the boxes. Several of which are marked Willow. When she showed up an hour ago and told us her name and talking about her best friend Buffy…"

"Who was another name written on the boxes," Piper added.

"…It wasn't a far reach from there," Paige concluded.

"And I suppose you already knew because you've been watching over us?" Phoebe ask Prue.

"What else was I supposed to do while I was dead?" Prue commented.

"You were dead?" Willow asked.

"Technically I still am," Prue said. "At least for another few hours. The whitelighter magic will slowly fade, leaving me human and alive again."

"Just like that? How long have you been dead?" Willow asked.

"I've been dead for five years," Prue answered.

Prue noticed the brief sad look cross Willow's face. "How about we sit down in the living room," She said.

Prue sat down in the middle of the couch pulling Willow down on her right. Phoebe sat down on her left, Piper and Paige sat down in the chairs across from them. Leo stood in the doorway holding Wyatt on his hip. The little boys head resting on his father's shoulder. "I think we'll go upstairs and watch some tv. Give you girls a chance to catch up."

Phoebe turned to Willow. "We were lead to believe that the Scoobies were involved with the fall of Sunnydale."

"You were lead to believe right. My friends and I were fighting against the First Evil. Well trying to anyways, but since he's incorporeal we couldn't physically fight him. Nope we just went for months with him taunting us, with wearing the faces of the ones we love. Half the time not even knowing if it was him we were talking to or not. Then Buffy can up with the wackadoodle plan to make me her big gun by using the essence of the slayer scythe to activate all the potential slayers in the world, while she, Faith, the other slayer, which is an eve longer story, and the potential slayers went into the hellmouth to fight all the baddies in there. What we didn't account for was the amulet that Spike was wearing, shot out beans of sun, destroy the hellmouth and the town with it."

"I don't think you took one breath," Paige commented amused.

"What would have happened if The First succeeded?" asked Piper.

"Then there would have been no one to fight when The First opened the hellmouth, essential unleashing hell on Earth," Willow said.

"What did you mean when you said that he was wearing the faces of the ones you love," asked Phoebe.

"The First can take the form of anyone who has died. He would taunt us like that," said Willow.

"That…" Phoebe began shocked, but unable to finish her sentence. She couldn't imagine how it must have felt to be taunted by a demon wearing the face of somebody you love.

"That must have been horrible," Piper said.

"I was lucky, for the most part," Willow sighed. "Probably because he knew I wasn't a treat to him. A least not until the very end."

Prue frowned at her daughter's self-doubt. "You always had it in you Willow. He knew that, but he also knew how fragile you were. He didn't need to use Tara to get to you. He knew if he possessed you when you did a spell, it would make you that even more resistant to using your powers, essentially muting you. He underestimated you, though. That's your real power Willow. It was never the magic that was holding you back, but your fear of what you would do if the darkness inside of you ever took over again. It is the strength to get up and conquer your fears, for you to go into battle and use you powers when lives are at stake. That is the true strength."

"She's right you know," Piper said. "I can't tell you how may times I've wanted to just quit. To give up my powers and say hell to the world. They were getting along just fine before we started saving their asses every week."

"We even did give up at one point," Phoebe continued. "Last year we faked our deaths, assumed other identities, cloaked ourselves from the higher ups, and went about living normal lives."

"But we couldn't stay away," Paige said. "As much as normal seems nice, we are not normal people, and despite what risks there were to our lives, we just couldn't turn our backs from our destinies. Helping people is what we do, and we can try and deny that, but in the end, we are always going to be witches and for me part-whitelighter."

"Even now that we have fulfilled our Charmed destinies, we have been preparing for you and your group to arrive. Ready for the change of destinies."

"Again," Piper added.

"Again," Phoebe mimicked with a smile.

"It took a lot of strength for us to disappear from the magical community," Paige said. "A lot."

"But it took even more for us to stand up and fight. It has taken a lot of strength for us to do this job for the last eight, even more after we lost Prue," Piper said.

"And their strength is in you too," Prue said. "I saw it in you. I saw it in you when Xander talked you down from destroying the world last year…"

"What now?" Piper asked.

Prue ignored her. "It was you Willow, who was able to pull that magic back inside of you. It was you who was able to focus your powers into learning the proper way of using them while in England. It was you who got on a plane to Sunnydale, even though you weren't ready. And it was you who changed the destinies of every potential slayer. All that took enormous strength. And it is that strength that The First underestimated."

"You make it sound so poetic," Willow commented.

"I'm not the poetic one around here," Prue said. "That's Phoebe's job. Literally. Which I am very proud of you for. It took you a while, but you finally found your place in the world."

"Thank you," Phoebe said, then looked to her baby sister. "Now, if we can only find Paige's place."

"Oh, I think Miss Paige already found her place, she just got a little lost during her equally as important magical journey. Something tells me, she'll soon be back doing what she was born to do."

"Exactly how much have you been watching us?" Paige asked.

"Well, there are four of you, and a nephew I like to visit, so as much as possible while splitting my time between you."

"Yeah. Can we get back to the destroying the world thing? Cause, I'd like to hear that part of the story."

"That is a story for another time," Prue said. "We have a guest arriving in a few minutes, and I didn't finish telling Willow, why The First didn't mess with her like he did the rest of her friends."

"What are you talking about?" Willow asked.

"Well, haven't you ever wonder why The First never used Tara? I mean he did tried to use Cassie to get you to commit suicide."

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Wait," Piper demanded. "I get you don't want to talk about the trying to destroy the world thing, but could you at least start from the beginning so those of us not at the scene can understand what is going on."

"Yeah. Starting with who Tara is? She seems important," Phoebe added.

Prue looked to Willow and quietly said, "It's up to you."

Willow inhaled deeply before saying, "Tara is, was my girlfriend. She was murdered last year. She died in my arms."

"That horrible," Phoebe said.

"Yeah. I'm so sorry," Paige agreed.

Willow wiped the tears from her eyes. "Cassie is a girl Buffy failed to save. Buffy saved her from a cult at the high school who was going to sacrifice her, but then she died of a congenital heart defect as they were leaving."

"She was the form The First used to try and convince Willow to kill herself," Prue told them.

"The First, using Cassie's body, tried to convince me that she was talking to Tara, and that Tara wanted me to kill myself before I could kill anybody else."

"Now with the killing word," Piper said alarmed. "Can we go back to that please."

Willow looked at Piper, understanding her alarm. She had to struggle every day with what she did to Warren and Rack. The guilt and disgust she felt at her own actions was her punishment. Being the keeper of magics she didn't want, was her punishment. And having to explain her bad deeds to ease her blood family's worry, was her punishment.

"I was addicted to magic. At least that is what it seemed like. I used it for everything, and when Tara asked me to stop, for just one day, I couldn't. I did something awful and will never be able to forgive myself. I took her memories away. All our memories actually. She broke up with me after that, rightfully so. I broke her trust. I went hardcore with magics after that. A friend of mine took me to this warlock who gave you a temporary power boost. It essentially got you high on the magics. I was addicted to that feeling and one night I took my best friend's kid sister with me. I crashed a car with her in it and broke her arm. I went cold turkey after that, and I did really well until Tara was murdered."

Willow paused as the memory of that day flooded into her mind. It was powerful, and it took all her strength to open her mouth and tell them what she was seeing. "We had just gotten back together again, when a stray bullet came in through my window and hit Tara in the heart. There was this group of human nerds playing at be evil badass' but were just jokes. That was until one of them show up in Buffy's backyard with a gun. When Tara died the magic that had steadily been building in my body broke free… No… I allowed it to break free. I tried to evoke the god of Osiris, like I had when I resurrected Buffy, but he refused to bring her back because she was killed by mortal means, not magical. So, I left Tara laying on the floor and headed to the magic shop to find another way to save her. When I got outside, I saw Buffy being loaded into an ambulance."

"They saved her though, right? I mean you've been talking about her," Phoebe inquired.

"I saved her," Willow said. "I went to the magic shop and absorbed all the magical knowledge and power from every dark arts book Anya had, turning my hair jet black as I did. That's when I realized there was no hope of bring Tara back, at least not whole, I shifted my course. I had gained the knowledge and power to heal Buffy. I headed to the hospital to save her. I levitated the bullet out of her heart, healing her as it rose."

She stopped and took a deep breath. She never realized how hard it would be for her to tell this story. She knew it would be hard, but she had never told it in full before. She mostly just gave people little bit into that day. Not even Kennedy knew what her friends did.

"I hunted Warren and I killed him. I tied him between two trees, and I took the bullet that I removed from Buffy's chest, and I slowly levitated the bullet into his. When Buffy, Xander, and Anya got close, I snapped his neck and skinned him. They saw me do that. They heard me say 'bored no' right before I did it. Like it I had been playing a game with him. I guess at that point it had been. The dark magic had already consumed most of my consciousness. It was feeding off my rage and despair. That's all I could feel. Anger. I incinerated him, and then took to the air to hunt down Andrew and Johnathan."

"Who are they?" Phoebe asked. She put her hand to her chest and rubbed in circles. She was suddenly feeling very sad, more so then she should be. What Willow was telling her was horrible.

"Part of Warren's gang," Willow replied. "Harmless geeks playing at powerful forces. They had nothing to do with Tara's death. They were locked safely in jail when he killed her. Still, I hunted them. I was blind with rage and dark magics, and I wanted more revenge than just Warren. Buffy, Xander, and Anya, did everything they could to save them, and for a little while it worked. My magical boost was draining, so I let them go and headed to the one person I knew that had a nearly endless supply of magic. Rack."

"He was the warlock you went to for the magical high, right?" Paige asked.

"Yes. I went to Rack for a power boost, only instead of let him give the magic like he normally would, I drained him dry, killing him as I did."

"Yeah but he was just a warlock," Phoebe said. "You were ridding the world of evil being."

"Rack might have been shady, but he was still human. His death is on my soul," Willow chocked.

Prue looked to her sisters knowing they weren't understanding. "Male witches who use earth magic are called warlocks. They can be good or evil, but either way they are still human."

"Oh," Paige and Phoebe said.

"I killed Rack and then I was gone. The magic completely consumed me. I tried to kill my friends, who sadly were no match for me. Not with the whole powerful magics and being able to heal myself. Giles showed up and after going a few rounds with him for play, I absorbed the magic that a coven in England had bestowed in him. It was a trap. It tapped into the small piece of my humanity still clinging inside me, causing me to feel everything the world has to offer. All the good and the bad. A smart move, but it back fired. Instead of me latching onto the good, I latched onto the bad. I felt all their pain, I felt all my pain, and I just wanted it to end. I wanted everybody's pain to stop. So, I tried to destroy the world. It would have worked too if Xander hadn't bravely stepped in my path. He made me see that pain was just a part of life, and that it was worth living for all the good. The magic is still in me, but Giles took me to a coven in England to help control it."

"So, The First used your guilt to try and convince you to kill yourself," Paige said.

"But it didn't work, so he waited until you used magic to play on your fears of going all evil?" Phoebe asked, slowly understanding the whole story.

"Yes," Willow said.

"But why not use Tara?" Piper asked, speaking for the first time since Willow began her story. "Using Tara would hurt more. It would cut right through your soul."

Prue smiled. "Because he can't use the face of a divine being."

There was a pregnant pause, as each of the room's occupant tried to decipher what Prue meant. Paige, being the only one of them to regularly visit the heavens, opened her mouth in shock. "They made her a whitelighter."

Prue looked at her sister proudly. "They made her a whitelighter." She looked to Willow and smiled happily at her. "The elders made Tara a whitelighter as a reward for her help while in Sunnydale, and as a gift for when you succeeded in closing the hellmouth."

"Wait," Willow sputtered. Her heart was racing in her chest, causing her heart to thud painfully hard against her sternum. In addition to being able to see the tears forming in her eyes, Willow's voice betrayed her emotions. "She's alive? I can see her?"

"Yes," Prue said as she put her hand on Willow's shoulder. "Just call for her Willow. She's allowed to come to you now."

Willow looked to the ceiling and weakly called out Tara's name, before clearing her throat and calling it out louder. A few seconds later, swirling blue lights began to form, leaving behind the person who she thought she would never see again. Tara stood just behind Prue, with a soft smile on her face, and the same robes Prue was wearing adorning her curvy form.


	8. Halliwells

Willow sat there staring at the women she loves, completely stunned. Her mind was racing. 'She's been gone for a year. Is that really her? Prue is talking to her. Willow, damn it, say something to her. Better yet get up and walk over to her. Come on stop being a such a wimp. I can do this. I can do this. I can't do this. What if this is all just my imagination? What if I go over to her and she disappears? What if she knows what I did, and she don't want anything to do with me? No, Willow. Tara wouldn't do that. Yes, she would. She did. She broke up with me because of my magic use, and what I did last year was so much worse. She'll never forgive me.'

Prue watched as her daughter clearly needed a push to do something. She stood up and hugged Tara. "Let me officially introduce you to my sisters. This is Paige, Piper, and Phoebe," Prue said, pointing to everybody as she went along. "This is Tara Maclay. Tara and I have become good friends over the last year, as we waited for the day the elders allowed us to return to you." She paused and looked to Tara before looking at her daughter. "I think now is a very good time to catch up with my sisters, while you do the same with Willow." She gave Willow a smile before walking out the living room and up the stairs, with Piper, Phoebe, and Paige hot on her heals.

Tara turned her attention back on to Willow, who was still sitting on the couch. Only now she had her head down staring at her lap. Tara walked over to the couch and sat down next to her. When Willow didn't look up, Tara tentatively placed her hand on Willow's cheek, and whispered, "Lo-look at me Willow, please." Willow brought her right hand up and placed it over Tara's, and slowly lifted her head up to look at Tara in the eyes. There she saw the proof she needed. This really was Tara. Willow didn't have much time to process this before she felt warm lips tentatively touching hers.

Willow's mind was blank. All she was aware of, were the warm lips touching hers. The warm tongue sliding across her lips, asking for entrance. Fighting with hers for dominance. Warm lips and tongue that she hadn't felt in a year. Hadn't felt since that fateful day when her love was taken from her. That's when it hit her. Willow broke the kiss, and jumped off the couch, leaving a very surprised Tara behind.

"Willow, what's wr-wrong?" Tara asked, not understanding why she jumped away so suddenly. "Aren't you h-happy, I'm here?"

The insecure tone in Tara's voice made Willow's heart break. "No Tara, that's not it. I am so happy that you're here. It's just that, how can you love me when I was the reason you got s-shot? How can you love me after what I did after that?" Willow said softly.

Tara stood up and walked over to the fire place where Willow was standing. "Willow, you're not the reason I was shot, please don't think that, and what you did after was not your fault either." Tara told her softly.

Willow moved away from Tara. "It was my fault Tara, if I had stopped using magic when you asked me to, you wouldn't have broken up, and we wouldn't have been in that fucking room when Warren showed up. You would've been at class, not getting shot. And It was my fault the magic took over. How can you say what I did wasn't my fault? It was Tara. I knew what I was doing. I let the magic take control. I let it. I took pleasure in it. How can ever love me after that?" Willow yelled, tears starting to flow down her cheeks.

Tara felt Willow's magic starting to flow to the surface, grabbing Willow's hand she pulled her forward enveloping her in a hug. "Calm down, baby, please. Your magic is rising, again. Come sit down with me, and I'll explain. Please?" Tara whispered in Willow's ear, and then pulled her to the couch.

"Willow, my death was not your fault. I would have died that day no matter where I was. It was destined to be. I needed to die to make you strong enough to do that spell. If I had lived, you wouldn't have been able to. You did exactly what was needed to win. Because you did what you did, you get to have me back, and I am so sorry Willow. I never should have given you that ultimatum. It wasn't your fault that you were using magic so much. You have two different kinds of magic flowing throw you. You just didn't know how to control your charmed magic."

"My what magic?" asked Willow confused.

"Your Charmed magic. You're the daughter of the eldest Charmed one. You have the magic of the charmed ones flowing throw you." Tara explained.

"Wait, Charmed ones? That story you used to tell me about? They're real and I'm the daughter of one of them?" Tara nodded her head.

"It's good that you're with them now. They can help you control the magic that was passed from them, while I can help you relearn control over your earth magic," Tara said. "I love you, Willow.

Willow hesitated before she replied. "I love you, too, Tara. This information doesn't change how I feel about what I did. I let the magic take over."

"That's alright, I had hoped it would make it easier to accept, but I think you're going to have to accept it in your own time. Just know, I'm here for you. No matter what. I love you." Tara said leaning forward to capture Willow's lips. The kiss was brief.

"I love you, too," Leaning forward again to capture Tara's lips. This kiss was anything but brief. Before either of them knew it, they were lying side by side on the couch making out. This felt right to Willow. So much better then when she was with Kennedy. Not that Kennedy was a bad kisser; she just didn't love her like she loves Tara. Willow pulled away suddenly as she remembered the girl. "Um there's something I have to tell you. I was with somebody else while you were gone," she said quietly. "I am still with her, actually."

"I know, and it's alright. Kennedy helped you when I couldn't. I never wanted you to be alone. Don't feel guilty for trying to find comfort in someone else. I was d-dead." Tara said, and then noticed the frown on Willow's face. "What's wrong baby?

"I don't like when you stutter," she replied with a pout. Tara leaned forward to capture the protruding lip.

"Do you think thing will be like before all the badness happened?" Willow asked.

"No. I think things between us will be better," Tara said with a smile on her face. She leaned forward again to kiss Willow, but Willow's overactive mind stopped her.

"Do you think we're moving too fast. After everything that happened, shouldn't we rebuild our relationship? Just to make sure we get it right," Willow asked.

"Willow, I love you. We've missed a year of not being together, so I don't want to waste anymore time." Tara said. "That's if you want to be with me. I will understand if you would rather be with Kennedy. She helped you when I couldn't."

"No. I want you. I have always wanted you. I care for Kennedy. I might even love her, but you are the love of my life. You are the only person I want to be with," Willow said, leaning forward and picking up where they left off.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Prue lead the way up to Piper's bedroom, the only room currently not occupied by gear for the Scoobies, and boxes of their things. As her younger sisters claimed seats around the room, she slowly walked around the room, idly touching keepsakes that Piper had sitting around. She smiled when she found a picture of Piper, Phoebe, and Paige laughing on the living room couch.

She picked up the picture and ran her thumb over the glass. "When I found out about Paige, and why I had to be the one to die, I was hurt and angry. I had Grams and Mom there with me at first, to help ease the transition, but it wasn't long until the Elders summoned my soul to explain. They showed me the three of you fighting the Source and winning. It was then that they explained why I had to die. So, Paige could become part of the Power of Three. It was her altered version of my power that made that vanquish possible, not mine. I was angry because they used me to gain something that could have been possible with the four of us. I could have gotten to know my baby sister. I could have gotten to see your lives as you grew together."

Prue put the picture back on Piper's dresser and turned to face them. Phoebe was sitting on Piper's bed, while Paige and Piper were on her couch by the window. "They explained that I was holding you back from reaching your fullest potential as witches, and because of that, I was doing the world a great disservice. I was pist when they told me this. I always did what ever I could to protect you, even if it meant I had to carry the bulk of the demonic load, but that was the point. Guess I never really learned to control my ego after we where infected with those sin balls. I wanted to make the world safer, but in doing so, I was putting my life at risk, and yours by association."

"That's bullshit," Piper spat.

"I thought so at first too, but over time I began to see that it was the truth," Prue said. "I watched as all three of you train and grow strong. Far stronger then I ever believed to be possible, and not just your powers. You accepted Paige into your lives and you made her a part of this family. I know how hard letting her in was Piper. I heard you talking to me, but you did it. The three of you became a strong unit, the true power of three. That was never my destiny. It was yours, and still is. The power of three flows through you, not me. Though you aren't really going to need it for a while."

"Thank the goddess," Phoebe said.

"Thank yourselves," Prue chuckled. "It was your hard work that paid off."

"Why didn't you come back sooner?" Phoebe asked. "I mean, you've been a whitelighter for five years, haven't you?"

"Yes, they made me a whitelighter not long after I was killed," Prue confirmed. "But I was banned from coming to you. Grounded in the heavens. They promised that I could come home again when you defeated the Source, but as I was preparing to come, an elder sensed his rise again. I was forced to stay. Once you vanquished Cole, I thought for sure I would be allowed, but they sensed a new threat arising. The Avatars were already gathering as much power as they could. Cole actually became an Avatar. That's how he was able to create the world where both Paige and I died. Ultimately, it was his humanity, his love for Phoebe that became his undoing."

"How do you know about that?" Paige asked.

"Because we can see you even when you are in another dimension. There are rooms in the heavens that allow you to see anybody. All you have to do is think about the person, and you will see them in real time."

"That cool," Paige said.

"And creepy," Piper added.

"Way creepy," Phoebe agreed. "You didn't see us doing anything R rated, did you?"

"No," Prue chuckled. "Intimate moments are blocked from being seen, as are anything you wish for anyone up above to not see. I was able to see most of your lives though. Your defeat of the Avatars was the next big fight that I was promised if you won, then I could return. For two and a half years I waited, stuck up in the heavens, watching your lives unfold without me. I was happy when Chris showed up though. He gave himself away when he showed up in the heavens, a lost little boy, longing for somebody to comfort him. We crossed paths after Leo was released from Valhalla. He visited me nearly every day while he was in our time. I was sad to see Chris leave, but was happy that I would get to talk with him again one day."

"So that's where he was going all the time," Piper said. "Why didn't he ever tell us about you?"

"There is a spell that prevented anybody who knew about me, from telling you that I was just an orb away," Prue answered. "He physically could not say, write, draw, or any other form of communication, to tell you."

"So, you were forced to stay in the heavens until we defeated Kristy and the Triad," Piper said. "At least I am assuming that's what happened."

"Yes, after you knocked back the Avatars, I was told I couldn't return because there was one threat left on the horizon. One that they weren't sure you would win. When you faked your deaths, they knew you were alive, and that you had clocked yourselves from them. They decided to give you the time that you needed, while we took care of another problem."

"Willow?" Piper asked.

"Yes," Prue answered. "Just a few days after you destroyed the Hallow, Tara was murdered, triggering a darkness inside Willow. They refused to let me go to her, to help her. They said that this was a part of her destiny, that she had to come back to the light by herself. I had been watching Willow grow into a strong young woman for years, and they forced me to watch as she nearly destroyed herself, and the world with her."

"That must have been hard," Phoebe said.

"It was, even harder than it was to see you become the Queen of the Underworld and not be able to help you," Prue said. "I wasn't alone though. Tara was brought right to me after her soul reached the heavens. Together we watched helplessly as Willow spun out of control, and by some miracle was able to bring herself back to the light, with the assist of Xander. You'll meet him soon. I think you'll like him. Kind of goofy, but super sweet, and best of all, he knows how to build things."

"I like friends who can build things," Piper said.

"I figured you would," Prue said. "I've been with Tara for the last year. Helping her to get a hold of her whitelighter powers, and generally being a friend. We were both in the same boat, grounded in the heavens until our family defeated the worst of the worst. They left us go about a month ago, which gave us just enough time to travel to Sunnydale with a few friends and box up everything they had. Tara's stuff was already boxed up in the basement, but we had to scurry to get the rest. The slayers didn't waste time in destroying the hellmouth."

"So, you're the one responsible for the ruins that is my attic," Piper accused.

"Yeah. Your basement too, and the spare bedrooms. We kind of ran out of room. Buffy has a lot of stuff," Prue said.

"Yes, and you had to bring it all," Tara chided from the door way.

"Hey. Yes well, all of Buffy's things didn't come close to all of Willow's books, all of which you insisted on bringing," Prue countered, then slyly added, "She really collected a lot since returning from England."

"Hey," Willow scoffed, popping her head out behind Tara. "Most of those are Giles'. He was sending and summoning any book that the he could think of that would help. It added up pretty quick."

"Well regardless, they are here," Prue said.

"We managed to get just about everything in the Summer's home, most of Anya's apartment, and just about everything from Xander's. Thankfully the elders let us in on the re-repercussions of the fight, or else they would have lost everything."

"Yeah, they told us a week before that the town would be destroyed and allowed us the freedom of returning to Earth to pack up as much personal items as we could, with the aid of some friends."

"So, my things are here?" Willow asked, just for clarification. "That's what you meant when you said you have something that belongs to me?"

"Well yeah," Paige said.

"We weren't exactly expecting you to be our long-lost niece," Piper added.

"Yeah. We've already been through that bit," Phoebe joked.

"Surprise," Willow meekly said.

Prue smiled happily. She had waited five long years, which felt even longer thanks to time in the heavens moving at a much slower pace than Earth. Despite being angry that she couldn't physically be with her family, she was able to gain insight into her daughter's life, something she never would have had in she had survived Shax's attack. That was something she was grateful for. She had spent so many years regretting her choice to give Willow up for adoption, flip-flopping between being depressed and at peace with her decision. Dying gave her five years on Willow's life, that she wouldn't of have otherwise.

"Are you two okay?" she asked her daughter and friend. She knew how worried Tara was with Kennedy in the picture, afraid that Willow would want to stay with Kennedy, rather than be with her.

Tara smiled shyly, "Y-yes. We're okay."

"I'm glad," she said heartfeltly. She looked between the five women, and for the first time in five years, she felt content.

"I'm glad too," Piper stood up. "I'm glad that my sister is home where she belongs, and I am glad that Willow has found her way home to us as well. Although I'll be equally as happy if you're the last long-lost family member that knocks on our door."

"Piper," Phoebe chastened.

"What? It's true. I love Paige, and I'm sure I will come to love Willow as well, but enough is enough."

Paige and Prue chuckled at Piper, both of whom understood that she wasn't trying to be mean, just simply overwhelmed. Phoebe on the other hand had been through this before and was mildly worried that Piper might not accept Willow as easily as she had Paige (which wasn't easy at all, mind you), especially with the knowledge that Willow has also tapped into her dark side, only in a different way than they had. A way that they didn't understand."

"All kidding aside, I think a family dinner is in order," Piper said.

Phoebe jumped off the bed and clapped her hands, "I think that's a great idea Piper."

"Good. What do you say ladies? Up for a good meal with all of us," Piper asked Tara and Willow.

Tara and Willow faced each other and silently had a quick conversation, before turning back to Piper. "We wo-would love to s-stay for dinner," Tara said.

"But first, I have to call my friends before they send out a search party. I promised I would check in half an hour ago, but my phone has no signal, and I haven't figure out how to magically create a signal yet."

"Here, you can use mine," Phoebe said. She pulled her cell phone out and handed it to Willow. "I get signal everywhere. Even in the Underworld."

Piper and Paige chuckled as Phoebe proudly offered her phone to Willow.

"Thanks," Willow said, and then ducked out of the room. She went back downstairs so she could have a little privacy, and so there wasn't a risk of Buffy hearing Tara in the background. She had to search for Buffy's new number because there were just too many to remember at that moment. Out of All the Scoobies, Dawn was the only one carrying her phone with her when they went into battle.

The line rang three times before Buffy answered with a suspicious, "Hello."

"Buffy, its Willow," Willow said quietly, as she heard laughter coming from the next floor.

"Willow. I was just about to send out a search party with me as lead." Buffy chastened. "You were supposed to call half an hour ago, and who's phone are you using?"

"My phone doesn't get signal here, so my aunt Phoebe offered hers to use."

"So, it's going okay then?"

"It's better than okay Buffy. It's amazing, and I can't wait to tell you all about it tonight. I'm going to stay for dinner, but afterwards. I'll call before I head home. I have something you have to see. Buffy you're not going to believe it."

"Alright Wills. I can't wait to see whatever this thing is and hear about your day. Call if you get into any trouble and I'll be there in a jiffy."

"I will, I promise." Willow hung up the phone. When she looked up, she noticed a bunch of photos being displayed on top of an end table. She gentle reached for the one closest to her, smiling as she did. Piper, Phoebe, and Paige were laughing on the couch, seemingly unaware that their picture was being taken. They looked happy.

Of all the scenarios she had gone over in her head, she had never though this would be one of them. They accepted her, in every way. They seemed fine with her sexuality, and not just because she was pushing the boundaries of social norms. She didn't have to hide her magic from them, or the crazy situations she and the Scoobies get into. She could save the world with both her families side by side. That was a good feeling.

Still, as she stared at the picture of her aunts, there was a feeling of loneliness. She looked around the room at the pictures displayed on every surface and she was missing. Before she learned that she was adopted, she spent every day wishing she was. Ira and Shelia were nice people, and they were good to her to an extent. They made sure she had food and clothing, a roof over her head, and they were quick to buy and pay for any computer related item she wanted. They were distant though, they traveled a few months out of the year, and she couldn't talk to them about anything. As long as she was doing well in school, they didn't seem to pay much mind to her.

Their distance came in handy as she grew older, and by the time she found her adoption records, she had already made a new family. Buffy, Xander, and Giles had become her family. She started dating Oz not long after that, and it was just easier. The closer she grew to her friends, the more distant her parents became. In fact, the only time her mother even spoken to her during high school was to tell her to go to bed, and that time she was nearly burnt at the stake. She was very chatty after learning she had a boyfriend.

Willow looked up the stairs and smiled weakly. She could hear laughter coming from Piper's room. She didn't see the need to contact Prudence because she already had a family. A good one. Sure, they went off and kill demons on a weekly basis, but hey, every family had their corks. It was only until that moment, as she looked at their memories that she regretted her decision. She could have been apart of this family too. She could be in these photos, smiling, laughing, and having a good time.

"You'll get used to it."

Willow flinched and turned to face her aunt Paige. She was leaning against the wide doorway. "What will I get used to?"

"Feeling like you were left behind and forgotten," Paige relied sadly.

Willow put the picture back. "When did you know you were adopted?"

Paige walked forward into the room and sat on the arm chair. "I always knew. My parents weren't shy about telling me. They were very loving people, and very happy to have me. I miss them every day."

"They're gone?"

"They died in a car crash when I was seventeen," Paige said. "I blamed myself for their deaths for a long time after that. I loved my parents very much, and still miss them every day. What about you? Where your adoptive parents nice? Were they open about your adoption?"

Willow smiled at her aunt's eagerness to talk with her. She sat down in the arm chair next to Paige's. "Ira and Sheila were nice, but I swear they only adopted me as a social experiment. They're both phycologists. They took care of me but were always distant. They never told me I was adopted and have no clue I am here right now."

"How'd you find out then?"

"I needed my birth certificate for school my junior year of high school. My parents were away teaching at some college back east, so I went through my father's desk for it. That's when I found the adoption papers. I hacked the agency's systems and found my mother's name."

"You can hack?" Paige asked impressed.

"It was really simple to do. Their security was real laxed," Willow said. "I was just happy they had my file on the server. Hacking today is much harder, especially since I refuse to use magic to do it."

"You used magic to hack a computer?"

"You can use magic for just about anything, the tricky part is too not get addicted to using magic. I started doing stupid things that hurt my friends."

"Ah friends. Before I became a witch, I had those. Now my friends consist of leprechauns, fairies, elves, and woodnymphs."

"Well all my friends are slayers, a watcher, and a one-eyed man," Willow countered.

Paige chuckled, "Guess we're in the same boat."

"How did you learn you were a Halliwell?" Willow asked curiously.

Paige walked closer to Willow and picked up the photo of her older sisters (all three of them) standing outside P3 the night it opened. "It wasn't until after Prue died. Piper was casting spells to get Prue back, that inadvertently call me instead. I found out I was their sister, after we said the spell to vanquish Shax, the demon who murdered Prue. I was more than a little freaked out."

"Was that the first time you did magic?" Willow asked.

Paige set the picture down. "Consciously, yes. My active powers weren't unlocked until Piper, Phoebe, and I were all together in the house, but my whitelighter powers snuck out a few times over the years. I didn't know that I was orbing though."

"Does it take a lot of energy to orb?" Willow asked eagerly.

"Not really. It burns a lot of calories, and sometimes I'll be extra tired at bedtime if I did it a lot that day, but it isn't too taxing."

"That's amazing. I can only do so much before the magic drains me. Although that was before I did the slayer spell. I haven't tried to do anything big since then."

Paige went to ask something but stopped when she heard her sisters and Tara coming down the steps. So instead of asking her what she wanted to ask, she said, "I'll take you to magic school sometime. There are all kinds of books there on old magics. There might be something there that can help you."

"That would be amazing," Willow exclaimed.

"What will be amazing," Prue asked. Out of the small group who had come down the steps, she was the only one standing there.

"Paige is going to take me to magic school," Willow said.

"That'll be fun," Prue said smiling at Paige. She was happy that her family had accepted Willow into the fold so easily. "Piper is starting dinner and asked if we could set up. She wants the dinning room look better than her wedding. Her words, not mine."

Paige chuckled. "Come on. I'll help you find where she moved everything. She went on a massive cleaning spree after we beat the Triad and Billy's sister. Then she went on a crazy buying spree, well she sent Phoebe on a crazy buying spree. So, nothing is where it was."

Prue chuckled, and then offered her hand to her daughter. Willow smiled softly before grasping the hand tightly, allowing herself to be pulled along. Already she was feeling at home…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty my lovely readers, this is the last chapter I have completed. Chapter 9 is nearly finished, but it might be a few days until it up. I really hope you have liked what I have so far. And as a reminder, the original is still up on , if you want to compare.


	9. Magical

"Wow, everything looks amazing Piper," Willow complemented, as she helped her new family bring the food from the kitchen.

"I wasn't sure what kinds of food you like, or if you were a vegetarian, so I just made a little of everything," Piper said modestly, but a little was an understatement. She had made baked chicken breasts, ham slices, pasta salad, mashed potatoes, cheddar and broccoli rice, corn, carrots, green beans, and peas.

"Well it looks great," Willow said sitting down.

"Thank you," Piper said. "What were you guys laughing about? I could hear you in the kitchen," she said as they started passing food around.

"Willow was telling us some stories about her life," Prue said. Though she had seen a few of the stories with her own eyes, the way Willow told them made it hard not to laugh.

"It sounds like you were having fun," Piper said.

Willow chuckled, "The hellmouth made things go haywire about ninety percent of the time, but sometimes it was pretty funny afterward."

"How did the two of you meet?" Phoebe asked, as she took the seat to the left of Willow.

Prue was sitting at the head of the table, with her back to the front door, Piper was to her right, followed by Wyatt, and then Leo. Paige was sitting at the opposite end of Prue, with Phoebe next to her followed by Willow and then Tara.

"We met in a Wicca group at U.C. Sunnydale during our freshmen year. Well more like saw each other there. We didn't actually meet until the Gentlemen came to town. Tara came to find me to do a spel l, hoping to help, but even then we weren't properly introduced because we didn't have voices." Willow said fast and in one breath.

"You talk fast, Willow," Wyatt commented chuckling. He stood up and offered her a roll.

"Thank you," she said, as she accepted the offered roll. "Yes, I tend to do that a lot, and somebody is supposed to stop me when I start," Willow said looking at her girlfriend.

"I like it when you do that. I missed it," Tara replied.

"The Gentlemen are real then?" Leo asked intrigued. There had been rumors over the years, but there had never been any concrete evidence of their existence.

"They were. Buffy kicked their ass with a well-timed scream," Willow stated matter-of-factly.

"What are the Gentlemen?" Paige asked.

"They were a group of demons who were sensitive to human voices. Screams specifically. They glided into town, stole all our voices over-night, and then started killing people. Buffy's boyfriend broke their voice box trap thingy and then she screamed, making their head explode. They were just one of the many fictional characters that turned out to be real."

"We been there too," Paige said. "Been turned into a few too."

"Ooh! Like what?"

Paige chuckled and said, "Woodnymph," while pointing her fork at herself.

"Mermaid," Phoebe added.

"Superheroes," Piper said. "Mask and all."

Paige chuckled, "Ah damn there were so many over the years. We were turned into fairy tale characters once. The evil witch turned me into Snow White, and the seven dwarves came and put me in a glass coffin."

"I got to be Cinderella for the night, but then I got turned into a pumpkin."

"And I saved the day after I was eaten by the big bad wolf," Piper added enthusiastically.

"And I though my life was weird," Willow commented.

"All four of the sisters started chuckling. "Magic has brought us a lot of pain over the years, but it has sure brought us a lot of good too," Piper said as she played with her son's hair.

"It definitely makes things interesting," Phoebe declared.

"So, are you're a witch too?" Phoebe asked Tara.

"Y-yes. My m-mother taught me the craft when I was young, and my grandmother ta-taught her," Tara said.

"That's cool. I wish Mom could have had the chance to teach us," Phoebe said sadly.

"Willow, finish telling us about the band candy," Prue said suddenly, attempting to change the topic, lest the conversation become to sad.

Complying with her mother's request Willow started to talk," Ok, but in order to fully understand I have to tell you the Halloween story first. It was Halloween night my junior year of high school, and Buffy, Xander, and I got stuck taking little kids trick-or-treating. We had to wear costumes, so we went to this new place called Ethan's…"

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

"Faith, Faith, you need to wake up, now," she said, gently shaking the younger woman. Faith gripped her blanket tighter but didn't wake up. Buffy shook her harder, while saying her name again. This time Faith awoke violently, throwing Buffy off the bed.

"Ouch. Faith what'd you do that for?" Buffy asked, holding her hand over her face.

"Sorry, B. I thought ya we're someone else," Faith said groggily, getting off the bed, and helping Buffy up off the floor.

"I would have let you sleep through the meeting if I had known you were gonna to punch me." She grimaced as she rubbed her eye.

Faith moved Buffy's hand out of the way and inspected the spot where her fist connected with her face. The spot was already swelling. "Sorry B, it's swelling. That might sting for a few hours." She sat on the edge of her bed and reached for her pack of Camels. She pulled one out and lit it up, allowing the smooth menthol to help soothe her discombobulated mind and body. "Want one?" she asked and offered the pack to Buffy.

"No thanks," Buffy replied kindly, and then sat next to her on the bed.

"Did you say something about a meeting?" Faith asked.

"Willow should be home any minute, she wants everybody around the campfire when she gets home," Buffy said. "Dawn offered to wake you, but I told her I would because I have something for you."

She reached into left pants pocket and pulled out medium sized black velvet box.

"I got this for you before we left L.A.," She said handing the box to Faith. "I know you already have one, but Willow wanted to get everybody one since most of us weren't wearing one when we went into battle. Which was pretty stupid when you think about it. We were going up against vampires. Super one, yes, but vampire's none the less," Buffy babbled. "Any who, I saw this one and I thought it would be perfect for you."

Faith opened the box to reveal a silver cross necklace. It was the same size and similar shape of the cross Angel had given to Buffy the first time they met, except this one had five small red rubies on it. One ruby on each end and one in the center.

"B, this is wicked," Faith said taking the cross out of the box.

"Turn it over," Buffy told her. Faith turned the cross over, to find an engraving on the back. One half of the Chosen Two.

A single tear rolled down Faith's cheek. Buffy noticed this and asked her what was wrong.

"Nothing's wrong, B. Can ya help me put it on?" Faith asked, handing the necklace over to Buffy. Faith flipped her hair to her right, and Buffy placed the cross around her neck. She gently laid her left hand on the crook of Faith neck for a few seconds before pulling away. Faith let her hair go, as she turned toward Buffy.

"How'd ya get it engraved so quickly?" Faith asked.

"Willow did it. I told her I wanted to get it engraved, and she started babbling about her being able to do it herself. It was really confusing, but what I gathered is, she just had to will the silver to engrave itself." Buffy told the younger woman.

"She used magic?" Faith asked confused.

"Um, yeah. I think. When we got back she sat on her bed, with the cross and meditated. After a couple minutes the engraving was there. I think it was something the coven people taught her how to do last summer," Buffy said, slightly confused herself. "It looks good on you, and it'll go with whatever you are going the wear."

Faith touched the cross and smiled. "Thank you, Buffy. This is wicked."

Buffy smiled softly as Faith gently played with her necklace. She stood up and moved towards the door. "I'm going to go help Xander and Giles make dinner. We figured since you didn't get up on your own today, we weren't going to wake you until we needed to."

"Thanks," Faith said and then looked up. "Guess I need the extra."

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "You should thank Dawn. She was the one who was forcing everybody to be super quiet today, so you could get you beauty sleep. She even made us all lunch. Not as well as well as you, but it was edible."

"Will do," Faith said.

The door had barely closed, before it was opening back up again. Faith looked up with a smile on her face, already knowing who was stepping into camper. Dawn didn't say a word as she strolled up to Faith and planted a soft lingering kiss on her full lips.

"Did you sleep good?" she asked as she sat next to Faith.

"Yeah. For once. B woke me out of a nightmare though. Kinda hit her for it. Thought she was trying to kill me. Got her good too. She'll have a bruised eye for a few hours."

"Why did you think she was trying to kill you?" Dawn asked cautiously. Faith never talked about what her nightmare consisted of, just that she was having them.

Faith looked to Dawn and remembered the conversation she had with Willow that morning. She just didn't know if she was ready to share the inner working of her psyche. Especially when the dream that she had was a brand-new dream, one that obviously stemmed from the kisses she shared with Dawn the night before. Still, she trusted Dawn. More so than she had in a long time. Over the last month she had shared a lot with the woman. Dawn could coax a lot out of you when you just sit and chill with her.

She listened closely to hear what everybody was doing outside of the camper, making sure that everybody was too busy to hear her. Once she was sure that it was safe to talk, she quietly said, "I'm usually all sex and no relationship. I like sex, a lot, but I can see more for us." She paused for a minute before quietly admitting, "I want more for us."

Dawn was too scared to speak. She was afraid that if she spoke, Faith would stop.

"I've never wanted more with somebody before, and I'm afraid I'm going to fuck this up, like I fuck everything up."

"Faith, you said it yourself, there is fault in everybody, not just you."

"Your sister was my first real friend," Faith admitted. "B and I clicked, and the more we hung, the more in sync we got, and looked at how well I managed to fuck that up."

"Faith," Dawn sighed.

"No D," Faith snapped. She picked up her smokes and lit up another cigarette. She took a long drag, before slowly letting the smoke out. She looked to Dawn, who didn't seem fazed by her outburst. Just one of the many reasons she liked Dawn. "If I had just done what B asked me to do, things might have turned out different. But I was too caught in my own drama. Too idiotic to accept that I had taken a human life." She paused and took another drag. "Then I went and fuck things up even more. I thought I could make it up to her, ya know. We found out the mayor was dirty, and I came up with this whole scheme to fix the problem killing Finch caused. And what happened? I went and fuck that up too. Instead of fighting the bad guy, I joined him, I killed for him, and because of that I nearly turn B into a killer too."

She paused again and took another drag. A tear rolled down her cheek, landing on arm. She remained quiet until after she stamped the butt out. "I hurt you," she spat, as though the words themselves were leaving a foul taste in her mouth. She lit up another cigarette and took a long drag from it. "I hurt you," she repeated. The words were crackly this time, as though she was forcing them out. "I went dark again, like I was when I was with Wilkins and I took pleasure in hurting you. That's what my dream was about. I swung at Buffy because she was killing me in my dream. I was disoriented when she woke me. Didn't really know what was real or not."

"Do you want to know what I think?" Dawn asked.

Faith took a drag and then nodded her head.

"I think the old Faith wouldn't have given a damn if you hurt me. She wouldn't be sitting in a camper contemplating the possibility of hurt me. She would have just fucked me, on top, in a very kinky way, and then kicked my ass out the second she orgasmed. But this Faith, you care. You are so worried about hurting me that you're having nightmares about it. That makes you a good person. Caring makes you a good person."

Faith stamped out her cigarette, and then turned to look Dawn. "The people I care about usually end up dead," she said.

"Me too," Dawn said, echoing Faith's own fear as one of her own. "But that doesn't stop me from wanting more with you. Neither does your dark past."

Faith thought about what Dawn said. Deep in her heart she knew Dawn was right. It was going to take time for her to accept it. "Willow knows about us."

"How do you know?"

"We talked for a while this morning. She let on that she knew. I have no fuckin' clue how, but she does."

"Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah," Faith replied. "Willow gets it. She doesn't look at me with cautious or judging eyes. She sees me, like you do."

"She's a friend," Dawn articulated. "Willow's a good friend to have. Just do me a favor and don't go have a 'return to the darkness party' with her, cause that would suck."

"I'll try," Faith chuckled. "Can we keep, whatever this is, to ourselves for the time being? I'd like to talk to B, first. Make sure she's cool with us.

"I like it just being us for the moment," Dawn replied, and then leaned over to kiss Faith again.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

"…Lady Godiva was standing in our living room in all her naked glory," Phoebe chuckled. "Needless to say, adding magic school to the mix only added to our crazy lives."

"Ya think," Piper snorted, and then shivered as she remembered the feeling of being bodiless. "I don't think I will ever forget the feeling of my head not being attached to my body."

They had long since finished dinner, although they still remanded at the dinning room table. What was left of the meal Piper had cooked, remained between them, forgotten in lieu of storytelling.

Willow looked around the table in awe, still not quite believing the scene before her was real. She had been accepted into her mother's family as though she wasn't a stranger to them. They looked happy to have her there. Especially her mother, Prue, who she had caught staring several times during the meal.

Her hand was joined with Tara's under the table, a constant reminder that the woman was real, and was indeed sitting next to her. Still, she felt as though she was dreaming. It was just too good to be true. She was sitting with her family, and she had Tara back. It was pure bliss.

Wyatt was sitting quietly listening to the adults bounce stories back and forth, laughing along side them. He was particularly interested in the stories that involved him, and the curious red-head he sat across from. He could feel the magic coming from her, and it intrigued him. She intrigued him.

The story telling would have continued had it not been for the house phone ringing, startling half the family. Wyatt, wanting to be helpful, orbed the cordless phone to them. He handed it to her mother, who answered it while still looking at him.

A few seconds later she was handing the phone across the table to Phoebe. "It's Elise. She sounds mad."

"When doesn't she," Phoebe chuckled. She took the offered phone and with an amused smile, which quickly turned into one of worry. There was a brief conversation between them before she hung up the phone.

"Sorry guys. I must go. There was an issue at the paper. All the servers crashed, and they lost all my work. I have to email it to her again, so they can print tomorrow's paper."

"How'd she know you were here?" Paige asked.

"She's been calling every number she has for me. My phone must be dead, because I didn't hear it ringing." She said pulling her phone out of her pocket. "Or the ringer got turned off. I wonder how that happened. It was working perfectly fine when Coop called earlier."

Piper looked to her son, who had dipped his head below the table so on his eyes could be seen. "Yeah I wonder," she said.

"She called me twenty time. Oh wait. No," She said as she scrolled through the phone she only called thirteen. "The other seven were from a number I don't recognize."

Willow suddenly looked out the window, where the sun had already sunk from the skyline. They were so caught up in the storytelling that none of them notice how late it had gotten. "Sorry. That was probably Buffy. I told her that I would be back to camp before the sun set and the evil creatures wake. I better called her before she sends out a search party."

Phoebe offered the phone to Willow, "Here. You can use the…"

There was a hard knock at the door. Everybody in the room turned to the door is surprise. "That's probably her."

"It might be Victor," Leo said. "He promised to bring Chris home before bedtime."

"No, I can feel it. There's a slayer on the other side of that door."

Piper stood up as Willow rose. They both made their way to the door. Piper opened the door, revealing the slayer, but it wasn't who Willow thought it would be.

"Faith," Willow said in surprise, as she entered the house.

Faith gave Willow cocky grin. "What? Figured I was Buffy, huh? So much for that slayer senses you got going on."

"You and Buffy feel similar. It's hard to tell you apart," Willow said. "And hey! New power. I'd like to see you master this overnight."

"No thanks Red. You can keep your mojo. I have enough with my own," she said as she looked around the house. "Damn Red. Your mom did good for herself."

"It's been in our family for generations," Piper said, causing Faith to turn around. "Piper Halliwell. Aunt, and you are."

"Faith Lehane," she said and grasped the hand being offered. "Sorta friend."

"Faith," Willow chided. She nudged her shoulder as she said, "You are a friend."

"Yeah," Faith agree lightly. "Everything cool here? B was starting to flip. She's been trying to get a hold of you. She was ready to storm over here. Had ta convince her it was better if I came cause I know the city better than she does. She made me keep the scythe there though. Figured it might scare the fam."

"I'm sorry I worried you. We just lost track of time." Willow pointed over her shoulder to family still sitting at the table, curiously watching Faith.

"Damn Red. When you get family, you hit the motherload," she joked, as her eyes drifted over the group. She stopped suddenly as her eyes landed on somebody she knew. She reached behind her and unsheathe the dagger she had on her belt.

Willow saw the movement and quickly looked to where Faith was looking. "Faith don't," she warned, as she brought her magic to the surface, prepared to fight Faith if she needed too.

"She's dead, Willow," Faith said, while not taking her eyes off her.

Piper raised her hands and tried to freeze Faith, but it didn't work.

"Faith!" Willow yelled, gaining Faith's attention. Faith looked at Willow with fear in her eyes, dropping her stance slightly. "It's really her Faith. It's not a trick. She isn't a vampire. She is a living breathing person."

Tara smiled as she came closer to the slayer. "I am dead though, so that knife w-won't k-kill me," she said lightly. "It's good to see you again, Faith."

Faith looked back and forth between Tara and Willow before finally reaching out and gently grabbing Tara's arm, feeling for a pulse. Her eyes went wide when she felt a strong steady beat under her finger tips. "How?"

With the help of her family Willow explained what Tara was and why she was there. Faith still looked stunned, but she was somewhat convinced. A genuine grin formed on her lips. "Dawn it going to be so stocked. I can't wait to see her reaction."

"I can't either," Willow said, understanding Faith's giddiness.

Faith turned to Willow with a big smile on her face. "So, you ready to bounce? If we wait much longer, B will have the troops out looking for us."

"In just a minute," Willow said, and then went back to the table to say good bye to her family.

Faith watched the goodbyes from the door, aware that she was being watched. She turned to look Piper in the eyes, then turned towards the door, slipping out into the night. Whatever the older woman was thinking, Faith didn't want any part of it.

BTVS-CHARMED-BTVS-CHARMED-BTVS

Just as few minutes after Willow left with the intense woman, there was a knock on the door. Phoebe had already left to email her columns to Elise, leaving Prue and Paige to help Leo clean up after their spectacular meal. All the while Piper sat in conservatory with Wyatt, enjoying a bit of alone time with her son.

Knowing it was her father, she rose to answer the door, hollering a warning to her sisters to keep Prue in the kitchen until she said so. She was nervous, more nervous then when she kept trying and failing to tell Victor about Leo's whitelighter status. Although at least this time she knew he wasn't going to be mad. It was still nerve-racking.

Victor stood on the porch holding Chris close to him. The young boy had his head resting on his grandfather's shoulder, fast asleep. "Sorry, it's so late. I took him to the zoo and we lost track of time. He didn't have a nap, so he should sleep good for you."

"It's fine Dad. Come in," Piper said. "Did you have fun?" She asked as Victor gently handed Chris to Piper.

"We had a great time," Victor said. "He especially liked the polar bear exhibit. We spent an hour there, just watching the bears go in and out of the water. He giggled every time one popped back up."

"I'm glad you had fun," Piper said. "We were just cleaning up. We had a few surprise guests today."

"Oh. Anyone I would know?" Victor asked.

"Yeah. I fairly certain you would know at least one of them," Piper said. "In fact, she is still here if you would like to say hi."

"Did you bring your mother back from the dead again?"

"Well… She is back from the dead, but it isn't Mom," Piper answered.

"Well who then? Your Grams?"

"No…" Piper said, and then pointed to the kitchen entrance, where Prue was standing, although Victor hadn't noticed yet. "Prue," she said quietly.

Victor turned quickly. "Prue," he sputtered in shock.

Prue smiled at the man. Once upon a time she had loathed the man for abandoning her and her sisters. She couldn't understand how he could do such a thing when he had watched them grow. When he had taken the time to get to know them, and then just leave like they never mattered. She realized that it may sound hypocritical, given that she had given Willow up for adoption, but at least she hadn't allowed Willow to bond with her. To love her and trust her, only for the love and trust to be broken by the betrayal of abandonment. She gave Willow the chance at a happy and stable like, where as he just left, simply because he couldn't deal.

There was still a part of her who would never forgive him fully, but if there was one thing she had learned over the last eight years is the life is short. She couldn't dwell on the past, when he made such an effort to be a part of her sister's lives. There was a good man inside of him, and it was that man that she chose to see. Not the father who she expected to tuck her in at night, but never showed.

"Hi Dad," she said. She walked towards the stunned man, amused by his reaction. After years of being in her sister's lives, he was still shocked by the magical aspect. It had made for a few amusing moments over the years.

"How?" He sputtered as he looked back and forth between his daughters.

"I'm a gift," Prue said. "I back and I get to stay."

"So, you're a whitelighter then?" he asked.

"For now. The magic is slowly fading from my body. I'll be human again by tomorrow."

Victor looked to Piper again. "This is real?"

Piper smiled at her father. "This is real."

Victor turned back Prue and reached out to pull his daughter into his arms. "I'm so happy your home," he whispered in her ear.

"So am I," Prue said as she allowed her father to embrace her.

BTVS-CHARMED-BTVS-CHARMED-BTVS

Buffy was pacing back a forth in front on the group, impatiently waiting for Faith to return with her best friend. She hated this feeling. Like she had no control over what was about to happen. Rationally, she knew she was overreacting, but let's face it, the line of work Buffy was in was anything but rational. A stint in the nut house had proven that. Vampires, demons, and witch, oh my!

Still, she paced, causing unrest to the rest of the group. Xander, Giles, and Dawn were all sitting around the fire watching Buffy pace, understanding that she was just worried. The rest of the girls did not. All they knew was that Willow had something important to tell them, and their leader was restless. They weren't sure if they too should be mentally gearing up for another fight.

Thankfully, the telltale sound of the gates being opened finally calmed their fretting leader. They all turned to watch Willow and Faith make their way down the dirt road. Neither were talking, and as they neared, you could visibly see how nervous Willow seemed to be. It was practically rolling of her in magical waves, causing the group to once again tense. Another one of their leaders was tense, and that was never good.

Buffy ran to Willow before she and Faith had reached the campfire, throwing her arms around her in relief. "Thank god you're home."

"Geeze, it's nice to see you too B," Faith joked, and then went to sit down. Her chair was open, as it usually was. Nobody dared to sit in it. She confused everyone when she picked her folding chair up, and moved it near the camper; unbeknownst to them, so she could have the perfect view of Dawn, Giles, Xander, and Buffy's faces.

The colorful round lanterns hanging the camper's awning, accompanied with the light from the roaring fire, gave Faith the perfect amount of light to see their reactions. Tara had promised to orb in next to her giving her an unobstructed view of all their faces.

"Really Buffy. I'm fine. Better than fine. I'm fabulous," Willow spoke, attempting to ease her friend's worries. "I'm sorry I wasn't home before dark. We were talking, and I didn't notice that the sun went away."

"It's okay Wills," Buffy reassured her. "But the next time you go to your family's house, let us know if you need a slayer escort home. I don't want anybody going out alone." She turned to the group. "This means everybody. We don't know what kind of danger lurks around this city, and I'd like to not lose anymore of you."

"We stick to the buddy system. Got it," Faith said loudly.

Buffy nodded her head at Faith, before turning back to Willow. "Come sit. I want to hear everything."

Like a child on Christmas morning, Faith giddily said, "Willow has something she has to show you first. Isn't that right?"

Buffy looked at Faith. She was acting very strange. Well, stranger than usual. Faith had been acting strange around her for weeks. At first, she thought it was just Faith adjusting to being out of jail, but then she realized it was only when she was around her that she started acting weird. Like she was stuck somewhere between being terrified of pissing Buffy off and trying even harder to make Buffy like her.

She looked back to Willow, who was also grinning like kid on Christmas morning, or in her case during Hanukkah. "What's going on?"

"It's the most amazing thing, Buffy," Willow said, and then pointed to the empty spot next to Faith.

At least it had been empty a few seconds beforehand. When Buffy turned to look there were blue orbs swirling around. Buffy's jaw dropped, opening her mouth in an O shape. There, standing next to Faith who was looking around the campfire with the biggest smile anyone had ever seen on her, was Tara.

Willow leaned forward and whispered, "It's really her, Buffy. She's a guardian angel now. They sent her back to me for closing the hellmouth."

Buffy turned to look Willow in her eyes. There was an unreadable look on her face. She turned back just in time to see Dawn moving closer to Tara.

Faith watched her walk closer to Tara. Being a slayer meant they had heard every word Willow had said to Buffy. Tears were welling in her eyes, her mouth was open slightly as though she were about to speak but no words escaped. She gently placed her hand on Tara's neck, sliding her fingers over her jugular, checking for a pulse.

"You're warm," she whispered, as though she had expected her to be cold. "And you have a pulse. And I can feel you. You're not The First. You're too warm and alive-like to be a vampire. What are you?"

Tara smiled as she cupped her hand over Dawn's. "I… I'm a-a-a whitelighter."

"You're stuttering again," Dawn stated.

"T-there are a lot of eyes on m-m-me," Tara replied.

"Oh right," Dawn said, and turned to look at the group, all of whom were staring at Tara with various looks upon their faces. Most were confused by who this woman was, which is to be expected. None of the baby slayers had met Tara, therefor they had no idea who she was. Xander was looking at Tara with envy in his eye, no doubt a by-product of grief over Anya, and a bit of relief. Giles was looking at her with disbelief and shock. After all, it wasn't everyday you see somebody risen from the dead. Just once every few years. Buffy on the other hand, was looking as though she were ready to pounce.

"B," Faith said, understanding the stance Buffy had just taken for what it was. She was ready to fight whoever this stranger was. "B… B… Buffy," she yelled, finally grasping her attention. "She's not a vampire, cause she's warm and has a pulse. She ain't a demon, cause I don't feel any around us, and she is corporeal, as Dawn just proved to us. Chill."

Buffy relaxed slightly, but only so much. "How do we know this isn't a trick."

Giles cleared his throat. "I do believe that Tara is who she says, Buffy. I met a whitelighter in my younger days. They teleport like Tara here did. They are guardian angels for witches and future whitelighters. Very fascinating beings."

Buffy's shifted back and forth between her mentor and the person claiming to be Tara several times before finally relaxing. She walked up to Tara, and like her sister before her, cupped her hand over Tara's cheek, then slid her fingers down to check her pulse.

"I can't believe it," she said after a few minutes. She looked into Tara's eyes, and then knew for sure that this was her friend. "How is this possible?"

"Magic," Tara said. "Good magic."

"Very good magic," Dawn said, and then wrapped her arms around the woman who had become a second mother. "I can't believe you're here."

"Me either," Buffy said. Mimicking her sister's actions, she too wrapped her arms around Tara.

Although she enjoyed being wrapped in the arms of her family, she was also playing crème to a slayer Oreo. "Ah guys…" she managed to say. "I may be dead, but I still feel pain. You both are really strong."

Both the sisters released Tara simultaneously, giving the woman sheepish looks that caused her to laugh. She wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders and pulled them close. "I've missed you."


End file.
